{"id":89891,"date":"2026-09-07T06:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T06:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/89891\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T06:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T06:06:09","slug":"scans-confirm-acl-rupture-for-sydney-skipper-callum-mills-in-finals-heartbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/89891\/","title":{"rendered":"Scans confirm ACL rupture for Sydney skipper Callum Mills in finals heartbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Callum Mills has suffered more September heartbreak, with scans confirming the Sydney<\/a> captain has torn his anterior cruciate ligament.<\/p>\n

The defender could also potentially miss the entire 2027 season after he went down with a serious knee injury during Sydney\u2019s 53-point upset of the Brisbane Lions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mills\u2019 right knee gave way as he attempted to corral Will Ashcroft near the boundary, late in the first quarter after an understrength Swans outfit burst to a 40-8 lead.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

Swans coach Dean Cox was already expecting the worst in the aftermath, with scans on Monday confirming the injury.<\/p>\n

Mills will meet with a specialist to determine a date for surgery.<\/p>\n

It is the latest setback for the luckless 29-year-old, who missed the Swans\u2019 2024 grand final loss with a hamstring strain he picked up before the preliminary final.<\/p>\n

Mills had played just seven games in 2024 after hurting a shoulder in a \u201cMad Monday\u201d wrestling contest with a teammate.<\/p>\n

This year was the first time the defender had played more than 20 games since Sydney\u2019s 2022 grand final run.<\/p>\n

The upset victory against Brisbane followed a tumultuous few weeks in the fallout from the Pullman Hotel scandal.<\/p>\n

\"CallumCallum Mills\u2019 season is over with confirmation he will need surgery to repair his ACL. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

Mills has earned significant praise for leading the Swans through the turmoil, which past players have admitted shattered the club\u2019s famed \u201cBloods culture\u2019\u2018.<\/p>\n

Star players Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner and Nick Blakey \u2014 All-Australian contenders before they were banned from being selected \u2014 are among the five serving club-imposed bans.<\/p>\n

Important tagger James Jordon and defender Riley Bice are the other Swans who won\u2019t play again this season.<\/p>\n

Cox\u2019s selection conundrum is further complicated with key forward Joel Amartey (Achilles) and winger Justin McInerney (hamstring) nearing full fitness.<\/p>\n

Hayden McLean \u2014 playing as cover for Amartey \u2014 slotted three majors against the Lions, with fellow talls Charlie Curnow (five goals) and Logan McDonald (six) also busy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Update as Sydney \u2018shattered\u2019 for injured skipper Callum Mills<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Swans captain speaks after \u2018unfair\u2019 injury: \u2018It is what it is\u2019<\/p>\n

3 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Callum Mills has suffered more September heartbreak, with scans confirming the Sydney captain has torn his anterior cruciate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[77,227,261,247,5009,127368],"class_list":["post-89891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-afl","tag-lifestyle","tag-sport","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-swans","tag-your-feed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}