Cobblers strengthen medical department in bid to reduce injury problems

Cobblers have made changes to their medical department, including appointing a new physio, in an attempt to reduce the amount of injuries they have and continue to suffer.

Northampton were regularly missing 10, 11 or sometimes even 12 players towards the back end of last season and that has had a knock-on effect into the new campaign with seven members of Jon Brady’s squad currently sidelined, including long-term injured duo Danny Hylton and Tyler Magloire.

Lee Burge, Ali Koiki and Ben Fox are also out but the club are hopeful that the addition of physiotherapist Ethan Cooper, who will work alongside head physio Michael Bolger, as well as a number of other changes will improve the situation moving forward.

"There was a lot of work done, not just over the summer but at the end of last season as well,” said chairman Kelvin Thomas. “It's very difficult for managers when you so many of your players are unavailable.

"We looked into a lot of stuff in terms of why players were getting injured and why they were getting injured at the end of the season and there were a lot of reasons for it.

"We were unlucky with a couple of players and because of the situation and going for promotion and all that, players probably came back a bit too soon, but that was a necessity at the time.

"In a way, some of those risks paid off because we won promotion and you look at Sam Sherring for example who probably came back a bit too early but he finished the season strongly and helped us get over the line. It was the same with Max (Dyche).

"It didn't work out for other players but we've looked into everything and taken advice and we've added to our medical department and hopefully that will improve the situation.”