He may be in his eighth season at Sheffield Wednesday, but Barry Bannan’s importance to the team hasn’t diminished over the years.
The Scottish captain remains the Owls’ fulcrum with his eye for passing and skill on the ball simply unmatched at this level.
But in recent months, the 33-year-old has missed out on more action than he or the management team would have liked. He was injured in the first half of a game against Exeter in December but readily admitted, along with manager Darren Moore, that he was quick to come back. That contributed to him breaking just two games in his return and then spending a month on the sidelines.
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In recent weeks, Moore has reinstated his captain early on, but a common theme has been removing him from action towards the later stages of the game, something unthinkable a few seasons ago.
When asked about yorkshire live On the reasoning behind that decision, Moore said: “It’s all about managing his load. He had just come back from that injury, but we were able to integrate him again.”
“The way the games have gone, it probably allowed us to get him out with that 10, 15, 20 minutes left. Now he’s back in shape and adding game minutes to his training is good. Obviously with these weeks from a game as well, they benefit the bulk he can get in training. It feels good and it’s certainly nice to have him back.”
Only two of Bannan’s previous seven campaigns have seen him fail to amass 40 league appearances or more. That shows his longevity and, more importantly, his lack of injury over the years.
And Moore says the variety of sports science methods now employed on Wednesday will help speed recovery not just for his most precious player, but for the entire team.
“With Baz and all the players, everything we do here is to help them and keep them,” added the Owls boss. “Our emphasis is on prevention, not cure. That’s why we’ve introduced a lot of things, like biometric testing, our sports science department has increased, we’ve also introduced yoga here.
“He’s trying to prevent injuries rather than cure them. On top of that, you have to make decisions in terms of volume that goes to players because we want them to keep playing for us as long as possible.”
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