Port Adelaide Reach 233 — Three Nine-Game Weeks, and Geelong's Clean Sheet Cracks
After Round 19 the medicare ladder has Port Adelaide's estimated toll at 233 games — still the deepest in the league by 55 — while three clubs each added nine games in a single week and two players had injuries upgraded to season-ending. The competition's bill now stands at an estimated 2,146 games. Every figure is a modelled estimate, not an official club count.
After Round 19 the top of the ladder hasn't moved — the middle has. Port Adelaide sit alone on an estimated 233 player-games lost, with Essendon next on 178, Richmond 163 and West Coast 159 — the same four, in the same order. Fremantle remain the league's healthiest list on roughly 37, so the gap from hardest-hit to healthiest is now 196 games — more than a full season of selections. Across all 18 clubs the season's casualty bill has reached an estimated 2,146 games.
This was the week Port Adelaide didn't need. Nothing new ended a season at Alberton — the seven already over, Connor Rozee, Sam Powell-Pepper and Ollie Lord among them, still lead the league — and the list grew anyway: Zak Butters rolled an ankle and Jack Lukosius added a calf, nine more estimated games in one week. That is the quiet cost of a deep casualty list: even a week without a disaster makes it worse, because the games keep leaking while the long-term names rehab.
Two upgrades and three nine-game weeks moved the board. Josh Kelly's hip became season-ending — the blow that carries GWS past Sydney into fifth. West Coast's +2 undersells a week in which Tyler Brockman and Archer Reid were both ruled out for the year, making six ended seasons — the most anywhere but Alberton. Harry O'Farrell's knee makes four at Carlton, three of them knees. And Geelong's near-clean sheet finally cracked: Jeremy Cameron's shoulder (four to six weeks) led five fresh names for a nine-game hit — though the Cats still haven't lost a single season to injury all year. Bailey Dale's shoulder headlined the Bulldogs' matching nine.
So the count after Round 19, modelled rather than counted: Port Adelaide 233 at the top, Fremantle 37 at the bottom, 41 seasons ended league-wide — and knees responsible for 21 of them, an estimated 510 games on their own, more than the next four injury types combined. How much slack any of it earns a club is yours to weigh.
That is what each club has lost to injury after Round 19, estimated — offered as context, never an excuse. How much slack you cut a side for its casualty list is yours to weigh.