Source :- THE AGE NEWS
When Errol Gulden dislocated his shoulder in the Swans’ second game of the season against Brisbane, Sydney had to learn to live without one of the best midfielders in the AFL. Despite the setback, the Swans won 10 of their next 12 matches, playing a free-flowing game built on rapid handballs.
The 24-year-old returned with a heavily strapped shoulder in round 16 to a very different Swans side and endured a 43-point loss to the Lions, followed by defeats to Fremantle and Adelaide. It has taken Gulden time to adjust to life post-injury, but with finals football looming, he is back to his best just when the Swans desperately need him.
In Gulden’s first four games back for the Swans, he averaged 24 disposals and two clearances, but in the team’s past two wins, against the Giants and St Kilda, he averaged 37.5 disposals and seven clearances. Gulden is now cementing himself as a critical part of the Swans’ premiership push.
Former Swans midfielder Jude Bolton understands better than most what it is like to play with injury. In 2005, before the Swans won their first VFL/AFL premiership since 1933, Bolton ripped the AC joint in his right shoulder, but played through the pain. Bolton believes Gulden needed time to adjust to the demands of AFL football after his operation.
“It’s a seriously tough injury that Errol sustained, and it just takes a toll when you can’t get your body consistently prepared and ready to compete at the highest level,” Bolton said.
“I knew it would take a while, and it did. Those first few games [from round 16], you could see he was drifting in and out of the contest a little bit, but now he’s having the impact that everyone knows he can have.
“Errol’s return to form all bodes well for the Swans, in the sense that they’re the ones who change the game because they have the confidence to kick up through the middle in a really tight, tough game.
“Whereas others might go into their shells, he’s got that ability to go, ‘I’m going to pull the trigger’. And as much as the Swans can be frustrating to watch, they can also put 40 minutes together and blow teams off the park.”
Gulden’s return to form is also perfectly timed, given the Swans sustained two injuries in their win against St Kilda on Saturday. Defender Will Edwards will miss the remainder of the season with a lower leg injury, while there is cautious hope that midfielder James Rowbottom could play a role in the finals after having surgery on his hand.
Rowbottom averages six tackles a game – sixth in the AFL – and three clearances. The Swans need midfielders capable of hunting for the ball, but Bolton wants Gulden stay on the outside where he can do maximum damage.
“I’d keep Errol on the outside in the midfield – that’s where his weapons and strengths are,” Bolton said. “I still think they need a little bit more support inside, certainly defensively.
“Rowbottom’s been such a big cog in there … At times when the Swans get beaten through the midfield, you know that the opposition are going to put enormous pressure on their defence, but someone like a Rowbottom can make a big impact. The Swans need that one player who’s going to really steel themselves inside.
“Then I’d be keeping Errol more on the outside because that’s where you will get the maximum benefit and maximum impact against the opposition.”
The Swans will take on 15th-placed Port Adelaide this Saturday at the SCG, followed by games against Essendon (18th) and North Melbourne (13th).
Bolton believes the relatively weak opposition will give coach Dean Cox time to experiment with game plans ahead of the finals.
“The Swans [coaches] have got some magnets to shift, but they’ve got a really favourable draw to be able to test things and get themselves right,” Bolton said.
“That’s all it is, and they want to be finishing in that top-two spot by the end of the season and then see how they go from there.”
