Brady praises medical staff and explains how Cobblers' injury problems have become 'self-perpetuating'

Jon Brady says Cobblers’ seemingly never-ending injury problems have become ‘self-perpetuating’.

Right from the first game of the season, Town have had players absent due to injury. They were regularly missing five, six or seven players in the first half of the campaign but the situation has only worsened since.

In the past six weeks, Cobblers have been without at least nine players for every game, and sometimes as many as 12. That has led to questions over what is causing all of these injuries but, as Brady explains, it is largely down to the fact that they have been trapped in a vicious cycle.

The early-season injuries meant others could not rest and then when players have returned to fitness, there’s seldom been the opportunity to ease them in. In addition, a fair few of the injuries – Ben Fox, Tyler Magloire and Aaron McGowan to name a few – have been impact-related and are beyond anyone’s control.

"I don't think you could get a better physician than Michael Bolger,” said Brady. “We are very luck to have him. You look the injuries we've had and a lot of them are impact injuries. That's not the fault of anyone and we can't help that.

"Yes, we have had a few hamstring issues but it's self-perpetuating. From the start of the season until Christmas, we had an average of six players injured every game and that meant we couldn't rest players when they needed rest.

"It's a brutal season. You end up playing 70 games if you include pre-season and unfortunately players aren't able to rest and it becomes self-perpetuating.

"Players get injured, they come back and they shouldn't play too many minutes too soon, they should be eased in, but sometimes they are having to be thrown in.

"We had the second smallest squad at the start of the season. We recruited the best players we could but we started with a small squad and that's why we had to be careful with who played in the cup competitions.

"Since Christmas, we have had 10 plus injured consistently and the problem is exacerbated. Last season we were in the top five in the league for the least amount of injuries so maybe we're being paid back for that this year."