Read Watson’s blog below:

I was obviously disappointed to hear that Scott Gumbleton will have to undergo back surgery  but I guess the positive thing about Gumby’s injury is that it has been detected reasonably early.  He is still only 20 years old and I think if you use the example of Brad Ottens - who had a similar injury when he was young and got it fixed and hasn’t had serious problems with his back since– you definitely see the positive with having the problem fixed early.

Jason Winderlich had a more severe back injury last year and is back playing after having the surgery. Gumby’s body is still developing and for a tall player it is probably not an uncommon injury to have. The medical staff are confident that he will be up and ready to return in no time and the surgeon has said it is a standard sort of procedure and is very confident that it will be 100% successful.

I think there are a lot of injuries that are simply uncontrollable in the kind of sport that we play with the speed and contact. You simply can’t control some collision-type injuries that you get and the club has been trying to manage the soft tissue type injuries that we have had problems with over the past and I think we are starting to get on top of that so far.

With young players, the demands of the game are so high at the moment that their bodies just aren’t ready to go at 17 and 18 years of age. I think that it is common for young and tall players to take longer. That is why people put ruckmen on their list for six or seven years before anyone expects anything from them because simply their body has to catch up physically to their height and dimensions.

Scott Gumbleton is 197cm and came to the club at around 90kgs and has been able to put on some weight. He is still growing while doing that so it is going to take time. It is frustrating because I know everyone sees the potential in him but if you think long-term, you want someone who is going to hold down a position for 10 – 12 years and if you have to cop 2-3 years of trying to get that player right for the big picture then certainly it is more beneficial for the club rather than hoping to see immediate results and putting him at risk of a major injury.

Living with Gumbleton, I have seen how happy he has been with his progress this pre-season and he should be happy because he has had a terrific pre-season. He is in great shape and has been able to do everything right.

Sometimes the game and life, is not always easy and things get thrown up to you no matter how well you prepare and no matter how many boxes you tick. That’s life and things like that happen. It is more about how you respond to these situations that tells the story and he is not the type of guy that will dwell on it.