James Sicily’s Appeal from his three-game suspension was heard on Monday, while Melbourne offered a surprisingly bleak update on Clayton Oliver’s chances of playing in Round 15.

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James Sicily (AF $934k SC $649k DEF) fronted the AFL Appeals Board for his rough conduct charge for a dangerous tackle on Brisbane’s Hugh McCluggage from Round 13, after being dealt a three-game suspension after last week’s AFL Tribunal case. The Appeals Board determined that the three-game ban would be upheld, meaning Sicily will not be available until Round 18.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin revealed Clayton Oliver (AF $990k SC $658k MID) is no certainty to play this upcoming round after being hospitalized with a foot infection last week amid his recovery from a hamstring injury. Goodwin said: “He’s progressing well. We’re hopeful. Both he and Harrison Petty have got a couple of important sessions to go. We need to make sure they train well today and also on Wednesday. We’re hopeful but we’re certainly not declaring them at this point.

“That’s certainly one of the things we’ve got to check off on. We’ve got two really important sessions coming up. Obviously spending five days in hospital isn’t ideal, so making sure he’s got the load required, he’s training to the level and he’s ready to go. We probably won’t know until later in the week.”

“We’ll know a bit more today where he’s at, both physically and whether he’s prepared and ready to perform at the level. We’ve come off a bye, we’ve had four days away. This is our first really big session that we need to make sure we have really good look at where we’re at but as I’ve said all along, we won’t take any risks with any player. We want to make sure we prepare our group to sustain our performance throughout the year.”

Dees club doctor Laura Lallenec added in the club update released on Monday evening: “Clayton’s still recovering from that infection and hospital stay. He’s doing really well; he’s integrated back into training over this week. He still does have a few more things to tick off to be available for Thursday night but he’s heading in the right direction.”

Fremantle confirmed that Sean Darcy (AF $789k SC $567k RUC) would be a test this week following a hamstring injury.

Dockers High Performance Manager Phil Merriman said: “We’re all excited for Sean’s return. He had a really good football simulation session on Saturday and got through. The plan will be for him to get through training this week and play.”

GWS accepted the one-game suspension offered to Lachie Whitfield (AF $809k SC 463k D/M) for rough conduct. That may open the door for a Josh Fahey recall but more likely Isaac Cumming who played in the VFL on Saturday.

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