Hunter On R "Walking Wounded"

Paul Hunter is a busy man these days. First Vine`s broken leg - then Buzsaky`s anterior cruciate ligament injury - followed quickly by Agyemang`s thigh muscle injury and Martin Rowland`s very recent anterior cruciate ligament injury. The treatment room is filling up far too quickly - and with top first-team players to boot (if you will pardon the pun!)

Hunter spoke about Martin Rowlands, the most recent of our injury victims, telling QPR.co.uk that: "Unfortunately, it is just one of those tackles that sometimes happen in football.

"We`d seen it before this season with Akos so we kinda knew straightaway. We got him scanned; got him to see the Surgeon and he had surgery yesterday which was very successful. It went as we expected - straightforward. So it`s the start of his rehab as of day one today."

Hunter explained about the usual recovery time for this particular injury (ACL):
"With cruciates it`s always somewhere in the ball-park of six to nine months. Best case scenario if everything went fine, with no glitches at all and no setbacks, would be six months. Sometimes you get the odd little issue flairs up and that is why surgeons like to give it a couple of extra months."

So, if everything goes swimmingly for Rowlands, six months will be the start of pre-season for the 09/10 season, and Hunter hopes that "we might be able to use pre-season training as the end of his rehab."

And typifying Rowly`s never-say-die spirit, Hunter confirmed that Rowlands does not intend to go on holiday during the summer but rather "work through and get himself ready. It`s bad news for us coz it means we`ve got to stay here and look after him!" Hunter added - in jest!

Hunter then turned his attention to Patrick Agyemang`s thigh injury, which he described as a "weird injury!" Agyemang apparently ripped the top of his thigh muscle - at one point, the medical team thought "that he had pulled the muscle off the bone - but he hadn`t, which was good!" Hunter reassured fans. Surgery was still necessary, however, to stitch the muscle back together again.

Hunter reiterated that Agyemang`s rehabilitation will take approximately three months (to mid-April). And he explained why his recovery would take such a long time: "The first six weeks are very conservative, very careful what we do as we don`t want to undo the Surgeon`s good work. And then, after that, we get him going.

"Depending on how we are doing, if there is a play-off push going on and he`s doing really well, then we might accelerate it. If there`s not that need then we will take our time - but the key thing is to get it right, no matter what." So, let`s hope we are in a play-off position!!

Hunter spoke about Akos Buzsaky who had, of course, just returned from the ankle injury sustained last spring, when he suffered his own anterior cruciate ligament injury in the Carling Cup tie last November against Manchester United.

"He is starting to come on now. We had a few little issues, which I talked about can sometimes happen with cruciates; but we seem to be over those now so he`s cracking on.

"This will not affect the outcome because he will still fit in to that time-scale. He`s two months into it now so he`s got plenty of time to get through the rest."

Finally, having taken a deep breath - there are just so many players to talk about! Hunter spoke about the long-awaited, much-anticipated return of Rowan Vine.

"Rowan Vine is doing really well. The recovery time is now weeks rather than months!" Is that cheering I hear?!

Hunter confirmed that Vine has one more x-ray to go plus one more visit to the Surgeon, which everyone hopes will be the final visit. That will take place in about ten days` time. And after that visit, Hunter is hoping that Vine will be able to "get back into training soon after that. Certainly, from what we have seen of him on the pitches, we are very, very happy." Hunter added.

John Harbin, the fitness coach, is also very happy with Vine`s progress so, added, Hunter: "if he continues to work in the next few weeks we will see what happens. But he is doing double sessions every day now in a bid to get back. He can`t do any more than he is doing."

A thorough and honest appraisal from Paul Hunter - with a flourishing optimism about Rowan Vine. Sounds like we could see him before the end of this season, after all. Hooray!

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