Anthony Miles: Albury co-coach has no timeline for return from his foot injury

Albury's co-coach suffered a nasty footy injury in the Ovens and Murray round 17 clash away to Yarrawonga in August and looks set to miss a fair chunk of season 2023.

Miles is still recovering from a Lisfranc injury, which is a dislocation of the metarsal and tarsus bones, and can't say when he'll be back training.

"Unfortunately, I still don't really have a timeline," Miles said.

"I'd love to have a timeline but I've still got all the hardware in my foot.

"That'll come out at the end of this month and then it'll be a case of seeing how I'm going from there and slowly build up.

"But there's no real definitive timeline."

Miles was stretchered off during the final quarter of Albury's eight-point loss to the Pigeons, who went on to make the grand final.

"I suppose the best way to describe it is pretty well a foot reconstruction," Miles said.

"The Lisfranc is the major injury in there but I did a fair bit of other stuff as well.

"I look forward to getting the hardware taken out and I'll go from there."

Miles is staying upbeat in the face of adversity and is throwing himself into leading the playing group alongside new co-coach Shaun Daly.

"It's really fortunate that I'm coaching," he said.

"It's allowed me to invest.

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"When you're playing-coaching, you're still trying to get fit and do those things so for me to be able to invest in the coaching side, relationships and the development has been great for me.

"It's been a real sidetrack and once I do get back and can start running again, I'll be into that, but the coaching's been great.

"I love playing footy - I've known no different, I suppose - so I absolutely miss it.

"But it's the old saying, once something potentially gets taken away from you, you really cherish those times you do play and value that."

With his coaching hat on, Miles is delighted with how things are shaping up at the Sportsground.

"We've had really good numbers at training," he said.

"At the end of last season, we focused on getting some numbers back for our whole list because we lost a lot after the COVID period.

"As a club, ringing players on a Friday night to get a second side was not demoralising but something we really wanted to work on and this year, we've got a really healthy list with more than 50 players, which is great."

So what is the key messaging from Miles and Daly?

"It's more about, as funny as it sounds, no expectations," Miles said.

"We're just letting them express themselves on and off the field and growing that connection.

"That's the most rewarding thing as a coach, being on the journey, and where that takes us, we're excited to find out."

Albury travels to Yarrawonga in round one on Easter Sunday, April 9.

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