2015-Rnd 3 Carlton vs Essendon

[DJC]

Shoulder surgery is very hit and miss.
As part of my med student training I spent 3 months working in Beijing at a top orthopaedic hospital there.
One of the surgeons had recently returned from the US after doing 2 years of training, specifically in shoulder repairs. One day I was asking hime about it and asked him what was the main thing he learned, he laughed and said "don't have shoulder surgery, it doesn't work". Obviously he was being overdramatic for comedy sake, but the results are not great.

I'm not sure if Thomas had had shoulder problems in the past, but I wouldn't advocate surgical management for a shoulder after the first dislocation unless there was some serious strucural damage involved.

A conservative approach is fine for most folk but probably not an AFL footballer in their prime.

I listened to Doc Larkin's assessment and he was gobsmacked by the description of the injury - a subluxation when it was clearly a major dislocation with serious damage - and the proposed treatment.  He was concerned that not operating would mean that Thomas would be highly likely to have more problems.

Sholders are or have been an issue with a few of our blokes; Judd, Jamison, Walker, Murphy, Gibbs, etc, not to mention Ablett.