There is no chance injured Matildas captain Sam Kerr will able to play at the Paris Olympics after a horror ACL injury, but there is a still an outside chance she could help win the gold medal for her country.

Kerr’s luckless run with injuries continued when she tore her anterior cruciate ligament at a training camp for her English Women’s Super League club Chelsea.

The Matildas released a statement on Monday saying the striker ruptured the ligament, which will mean a nine to 12-month recovery period – and with the Olympics to kick off in six months, there is no chance of she makes a miracle return to the starting side. 

‘That [nine months] is the minimum, that’s when people really do everything really well.

‘The short answer is no [being ready for the Olympic Games]. Motivation is one thing, but you still cannot trick the body.’

Kerr has been ruled out of the Paris Olympics after suffering what the Matildas called an ACL rupture in training for Chelsea, but she could still play a vital role at the Games

If Kerr’s rehab and recovery is on track, she could be deployed in a specialist role 

However, there is a loophole.

While Kerr will not be able to blaze her way through the midfield with one of her trademark slashing runs at the Olympics, she could still play a major role.

After six months of rehabilitation, if Kerr is ahead of schedule and showing great signs of recovery, she may be able to line up to take penalty kicks. 

The Matildas have not officially ruled her out of contention to compete at the Games, which begin on July 26. 

Gustavsson took a big chance by saving a spot in his World Cup squad for another seriously injured player, Kyah Simon, in the hope she could return from the ACL rupture she suffered in October 2022. 

‘The best patients are up and running in a straight line after three months,’ Larkins said.

‘From three to six months you are doing strength work.

‘If she is just doing the penalty shootout, then it’s definitely possible but I don’t know how that would work from a qualification requirement.’ 

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson could face a massive decision on whether to keep Kerr in his 18-woman squad for the Olympics so she can be used purely to take penalty kicks

Matildas fans are not convinced, though, calling on coach Tony Gustavsson to not take any unnecessary risks with Kerr.

‘Anything is ‘definitely possible.’ It’s definitely possible for me to drive a school bus with my feet but that’s still an incredibly stupid thing to attempt,’ one posted on social media.

‘There’s no way Sam would take up a roster spot if that’s all she can contribute. She’s always been a team first player and with only 18 spots available I don’t see that happening,’ added another.

‘Let her carry the flag in the ceremony and let her be,’ requested another. 

Some sports fans may remember the controversial ACL surgery method that promised to have athletes back in action in as little as four months.

However, this is not an option for Kerr, due to the high chance she would rupture the ligament again, which could threaten her career. 

Sydney Swans player Nick Malceski was the first to have LARS surgery, but it failed and he needed to have it done again

South Sydney Rabbitohs winger Alex Johnston had two unsuccessful bouts of LAR surgery

The Ligament Augmentation and Reconstruction System (LARS) system involved using a synthetic ACL to repair the ligament and was first introduced in Australia in 2008.

Swans AFL player Nick Malceski was the first big-name athlete in Australia to get LARS, which failed, requiring him to get the surgery a second time. South Sydney Rabbitohs flyer Alex Johnston also had two bouts of failed LARS surgery.

LARS has since been phased out due to a high failure rate, with a third of all patients snapping their ACL again.

‘It was too good to be true. The problem being that they just didn’t biologically incorporate properly, and they had a much higher than anticipated failure rate and there were lots of recorded revision surgeries,’ orthopaedic surgeon Dr David Broe told ABC.

This led the National Library of Medicine to carry out research and conclude that: ‘LARS should not be considered as a graft option for primary ACL reconstruction’.