“His knee has degenerated”: Worrying health reports emerge about Eagles skipper Allen

West Coast co-captain Oscar Allen has received some worrying news from a knee specialist according to SEN WA’s Peter Vlahos.

The star forward has flown overseas this off-season to seek specialist after battling knee, foot and shoulder issues in recent years, with his knee, in particular, causing him to miss months of footy during the 2024 season.

According to Vlahos, Allen played through some injury troubles in his 11 AFL games last campaign and has since been told that his knee has degenerated somewhat and resembles a knee of someone in their late 30s or early 40s despite the forward being just 25 years old.

“There still is a big question mark over Oscar Allen, the co-captain, with his knee,” Vlahos told SEN WA Breakfast.

“I was told a couple of weeks ago that no doubt they're monitoring his knee.

“Last season, I think he played with it. He had some good games and some games where he wasn't sighted.

“But I believe in recent times, he went and saw his specialist where they had another look at his knee and his knee has degenerated quite a bit.

“In fact, he's probably got a knee of someone in their late 30s, early 40s.”

With question marks hanging over Allen’s health, the Eagles went and selected tall forward Jobe Shanahan with pick No. 30 in the 2024 AFL Draft.

Vlahos believes that this pick was partly made as an insurance policy in case the Eagles need cover for Allen going forward.

“I think Oscar's quite upset or disappointed about that diagnosis,” Vlahos said.

“But the Eagles are thinking, ‘Well, we're going to persevere, hopefully, we'll get through and everything will be okay. But just in case we need some cover, we’re bringing Jobe in, we’ll train him up, get him up to speed and he can be some insurance’.

“That's what I'm being told.”

The Eagles also picked up top WA talent Bo Allan (pick 16), Oakleigh Chargers on-baller Tom Gross (pick 46), Western Jets midfielder Lucca Grego (pick 48) and Claremont forward Hamish Davis (pick 65) in this year’s draft.