Slammers star facing third operation

Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers women’s coach Darren Austin faces a selection headache ahead of the 2014 season with import Valerie Ogoke facing the possibility of a second consecutive year on the sidelines.

The Loyola Marymount University product was an integral part of the Slammers 2012 championship winning campaign but an ankle injury sustained while playing with the Canberra Capitals has kept her out of the South West side ever since.

Ogoke has already gone under the knife twice, but now faces a third surgery after the discovery of bone spurs in her ankle.

“I thought after going through a whole year of not playing and the two surgeries that I would be fine, ” she said.

“I had been training for the past couple of weeks and was feeling really good but then I developed a lot of pain in the ankle and my doctor confirmed that I have bone spurs.”

Although the latest surgery is not serious, Ogoke faces an uncertain wait for the procedure with no guarantees on her recovery time.

“I can’t say what will happen until I hear back from my doctor about when I can have the surgery but at this point it looks like I may miss the entire State basketball season, ” she said.

Ogoke’s injury follows fellow US import Kim Sitzmann’s shock retirement at the end of 2013 to become the latest in a growing list of setbacks for the women’s team.

“Losing Val is extremely disappointing because she was training the house down, she came back like she had never left, ” Austin said.

Slammers senior director Carl Catalano said Ogoke remained an important part of the club’s long-term plans.

“Valerie is working towards getting citizenship to Australia and will remain involved with the Slammers this year even if she is not out on the court, ” he said.

Australian Diamonds netball convert Susan Fuhrmann is also no guarantee to start in round one of the season with a chronic knee injury again flaring up.

“We’re leaving Susan on the list, ” Austin said.

“She doesn’t count as an import and after getting her operation done could come back towards the end of year.

“If she can play eight games and qualify for the finals that will be a massive boost for the team.”