Six-time Albury premiership player Luke Packer admits his latest hamstring injury could be career-threatening.
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Packer injured his right hamstring midway through the first term of his milestone 250th game against Wodonga Raiders on Saturday.
It’s in the same spot as the complaint which forced him to miss last year’s grand final.
At 33, the classy defender knows it could end his O and M stint.
“Yeah, I’d say so, I don’t want to put the team in that position, I felt pretty ordinary watching them play, especially in the heat,” he said.
“To leave them one short, I don’t want to put the team in that position too many times.”
And that’s why Packer will be ultraconservative this time.
“Obviously I’ve done a few of these, so I know where it’s at,” he said.
“It’s probably going to be four to six weeks and I’ll probably take an extra week or two to make sure I’m 100 per cent when I come back.”
One of the league’s best small defenders for at least a decade, Packer was troubled by hamstrings as a teenager, but the problem only resurfaced late last year.
“When I did it, it was probably put down to fatigue,” he said.
“I probably wasn’t doing the strengthening on it that I should have been doing on it I suppose, I probably just thought it was a one-off.
“Now I’m probably having to go right back to the drawing board and get right on top of that.”
The Tigers’ defence marshalled superbly in Packer’s absence, smashing Raiders by 44 points.
“Yeah, they were good the whole back six, Lukey Packer going down didn’t help,” co-coach Shaun Daly said.
“’Deano’ (Dean Polo) was able to help and young Benny McIntosh has come in from our thirds there as well.
“They were able to get the ball to ground and we ran it out from there.”
Victoria Country representative Elliott Powell was also helped off in the second quarter with an ankle problem, but the Tigers don’t believe it’s serious.
However, Powell will be doubtful for the grand final re-match against Wangaratta.
Both teams will be significantly different.
The Tigers had 12 players from that team against Raiders, while the Pies had 14 against Lavington on Saturday night.
The Pies went into the decider on a 19-match losing streak against the Tigers – the sixth longest in league history – but jumped the favourites to snare a riveting 21-point win.
