The Ballarat Football Netball League's leading goal kicker could be sidelined for the remainder of the home and away season, after he suffered a serious injury in Bacchus Marsh's loss to Darley on Saturday.
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The peaks and troughs of football have again shown their collective head after Jake Owen suffered a compound fracture on a finger on his left hand in a third-quarter marking contest.
Bacchus Marsh's Jake Owen suffered a compound fracture on his finger on Saturday, and is set to be sidelined for an extended period of time. Picture by Lachlan Bence
He had booted one goal up until the third quarter to take his season tally to 55 when disaster struck in a marking contest.
The loss of the Cobras' spearhead changed the complexion of the local derby against the Devils, allowing Darley stars Billy Myers and Matthew Brett to get off the chain and help set up their team's 12th successive win as the Devils dominated the last quarter to win by 17 points.
Bacchus Marsh coach Dennis Armfield said it was a painful blow for Owen and his team, who had looked on track for an upset win over their cross-town rivals.
"He's had the surgery and at this stage it looks like it's all good, but obviously he'll need to get through all the stitches and see how it heals from there, but he's going to be a few weeks at the very least," Armfield said.
"It hurts, but that's the joys of playing footy. It's not the ideal, from his perspective, and I've had a chat with him on Sunday morning, he was more flat about the result and where the teams were at after yesterday.
Jake Owen has been in sparkling form recently, including kicking 11 goals against Lake Wendouree. Picture by Lachlan Bence
"He's more concerned about what he can do to help and that just epitomises his character.
"It definitely changed the complexion of the game, they got an opportunity to free up Billy Myers, Matty Brett was able to run.
"We had a few soldiers down in the end. We had to manipulate the forward line, and unfortunately, it just got out of there a bit too easy in the last quarter."
Darley coach Dan Jordan sent his well-wishes to Owen, admitting the injury changed the course of the match.
"It was pretty pivotal to them to be honest and it was more invigorating for us because it allowed us to free some things up," he said.
"You hate to see something like that happen to a really good player. I just hope he's okay and he's able to get back out on the park at some stage."
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