Kennelly hoping for a quick recovery

News from the Sydney Swans camp yesterday played down the seriousness of the dislocated knee Tadhg Kennelly sustained playing in the AFL over the weekend.

Kennelly was seen hopping off the pitch - the Australians really do live and die by the tough guy mentality - after damaging his right knee tackling the Demons Byron Pickett in the 49-point victory.

The Swans doctor Nathan Gibbs felt, due to Kennelly's previous rapid rate of recovery, he could return to action within three weeks. Comparisons with former Swans player Daryn Cresswell who in 1997 popped his knee back into place while still on the field and played the next week were under played.

"I think Cressa had a history of dislocating knee caps and I think the classic one people remember when it popped out and he popped it back in, that was a recurrence of a dislocation," said Gibbs. "It can be a bit like shoulders that keep slipping out, some players have it slip out and back in during a game and finish a match off.

"But the first time it happens it's much more traumatic. For Tadhg, being his first time, the standard textbook recovery time for a first time dislocation is six to eight weeks normally. The only thing against that is Tadhg Kennelly - since I've been involved with him at the Swans, he has never followed the textbook. He has an enormous capacity to play injured and to recover quickly. There is no way it will be six to eight weeks.

"The ligaments appear fine. You can tell by feeling the knee, it's either loose or it's not, but what you can't tell is the joint surface damage. Sometimes when you dislocate the kneecap it can cause a chip to break off behind the back of it [ the knee cap] on the joint surface. We'll scan him just to make sure there is no associated joint surface damage . . . that would obviously complicate things.

"We're hoping for him to only be out for a few weeks. I think if he got back in two to three weeks, that would be a super effort."

The 25-year-old Kennelly is contracted to Sydney until 2009, at which point he is expected to return home and pursue his primary sporting aim of winning an All-Ireland title with Kerry.

The other two players currently featuring in the AFL, Setanta Ó hAilpín and Colm Begley, came into direct contact over the weekend as the Carlton Blues' losing streak continued against Begley's Brisbane Lions.

Both the Blues head coach Denis Pagan and team-mate Heath Scotland were quick to defend Ó hAilpín's performance at fullback despite marker Jonathan Brown, one of the leading forwards in the game, scoring three goals and claiming 26 possessions.

"Young Carlos battled away hard," said the 26-year-old Scotland, referring to Setanta's unfortunate nickname, after the famous musician Carlos Santana.

"I think Carlos, most of the time, was right up his backside, maybe one or two steps away but they still hit him up. Brown's such a good player, they do go through him a lot. He's such a strong bloke. He was awesome and probably one of the big differences."

"I'm not disappointed with Setanta," added Pagan. "When Setanta's got 60 games under his belt, he's going to be one of the best defenders in the game.

"He's played 16 games. You can't give him another 40 in one week - we've just got to bide our time and roll with the punches because we know he's going to be a good player for Carlton."

Laois native Begley had a less conspicuous game but did register a goal from half back.

The other Irish rookies in the AFL, Ó hAilpín's younger brother Aisake and Down's former minor star Martin Clarke, have yet to make the senior line ups for Carlton or Collingwood respectively.

Clarke, however, is receiving plenty of plaudits for his displays with lower division club Williamstown.

"I think he'll be playing AFL footy in a couple of months, I'd say, and he is just growing in confidence," said Williamstown general manager Brendan Curry recently.

"We were pretty impressive and it was a good way to head into the season."