NOTTINGHAM Forest will carefully monitor their training ground and treatment room practices to ensure their promotion hopes are not derailed by another injury crisis.
The club last night completed the loan signing of Crystal Palace full back Jack Hunt as they look to address the lingering problems in the back-four, with five defenders in danger of missing the start of the new campaign.
The 23-year-old right-back (pictured), who cost £2m when he joined the Eagles from Huddersfield last summer, has joined Forest until January.
In the meantime, the Reds were last night still waiting for news on the severity of Henri Lansbury's knee injury.
The former Arsenal man could join an injury list that already includes Jack Hobbs (ankle), Chris Cohen (knee), Kelvin Wilson (calf), Jamaal Lascelles (knee), Eric Lichaj (groin) and Dexter Blackstock (knee).
The majority of those problems were collected in the second half of last season – with Forest robbed of the services of 13 players at one point.
And the club are determined to do everything in their power to ensure they avoid similar problems this time around.
They have already staged an investigation into what was behind the problems.
And first team coach Brian Eastick revealed: "There has been some research on it. Any football club that collects that amount of injuries... if you don't look at it then there is something wrong.
"It is not a blame game, we are not looking to blame anyone.
"It is just a question of asking whether we are doing the right things in training, whether the rehab is right... we have looked at quite a few things.
"Sometimes luck just plays a part. Sometimes you just have bad luck.
"The Championship is a marathon, you play 46 games, often with runs of fixtures Saturday and Tuesday.
"You need a fairly big squad to handle that. Hopefully we will be more fortunate when it comes to those injuries.
"But we are going to need a squad that can deal with those demands."
Eastick says Forest will continue to keep an eye on how they work throughout the campaign.
"The process is still ongoing, so it would be wrong of me to say 'we will definitely do this or that'," he said. "It is something that the medical staff will continue to look at and discuss with Stuart (Pearce).
"If there is something we need to look at or adapt a little bit, we will do it. As I said, it is something that is ongoing."
Assistant manager Steve Wigley is also hoping for better fortunes on the injury front.
"When everyone is fit and if we add a few more players, we will be as competitive as anyone in this division," said Wigley.
"It is well documented the injuries the club had at the end of last season. In any sport, you are not going to win if you take your best players out of the equation.
"Some of those will be fit for the start of the season, some may be a little bit later.
"There is one thing I have been wary of, coming in, is the amount of people who were affected by what happened last year.
"We have to make sure, right at the start, that we are managing people within sessions.
"The situation last season was horrendous."
