[pygame] Error with image.get_rect()

[marta sanz]

Hi there!
I have a little problem with that function image.get_rect() and that  
is that after loading an image, I try to obtain its rect but it does  
nothing...

in my code I do this:
def __init__ (pygame.sprite.Sprite):
        ...
        self.counterArea=pygame.Rect(0,0,0,0)
        ...

....
def loadCounter(self):
        ...
        self.counterImage= pygame.image.load("....")

        self.counterImage= self.counterImage.convert()

        self.counterArea= self.counterImage.get_rect()
        ...

and when I do :

print "Top: ", self.counterArea.top
>>>0

Does anyone have any idea of where do my code fails? I have look for  
examples and info, but all I see seems to say I'm right, so what's  
wrong?

Thanks so much.
Regards..
Marta.