Josh Dunkley will miss another week with his calf injury, while Caleb Serong’s challenge at the AFL Tribunal was heard. Plus there were updates on Clayton Oliver, Elliot Yeo, Jeremy Cameron, Bailey Smith and more.
UPDATES
The Brisbane Lions have Josh Dunkley (AF $985k SC $685k M/F) confirmed will miss Friday’s clash with Melbourne due to his ongoing calf injury.
Brisbane put out their injury report on Tuesday, which said: “The Lions will however be without midfielder Josh Dunkley who they are expecting to welcome back next week along with Rhys Mathieson (hamstring) and Carter Michael (quad).” Dunkley is listed as 1 week on the list.
Geelong indicated that Jeremy Cameron (AF $627k SC $395k FWD) is on track to play in Round 18 after concussion protocols. Cats Footy GM Simon Lloyd said: “Jezza’s tracking really well. Obviously, as Chris Scott has mentioned, we’ll be guided by our medical team (on) when he’ll be available, but he’s had a couple of big training sessions now, and he’s looking good.”
Fremantle’s challenge of Caleb Serong’s (AF $941k SC $567k MID) one-game suspension for rough conduct was unsuccessful at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday, with the charge upheld meaning he’ll miss their Round 18 clash with Collingwood.
The Dockers also revealed Round 17 debutant Karl Worner will be unavailable this week due to a calf injury, listed as TBA.
Returning to the AFL Tribunal, Toby Nankervis was hit with a three-game suspension for his late bump on Sydney’s Jake Lloyd as expected.
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge discussed the form of Bailey Smith (AF $676k SC $416k M/F). He said: “He’s had a few things and still has. He’ll hopefully train today but post-game he was sick. He wasn’t in early in the week because he’s been ill. He was ill leading into the game, so he wasn’t at his best but he wanted to play. I’m hoping he’s going to be able to train today and he’ll give a good account of himself.” It was reported by 7News‘ Mitch Cleary that Smith didn’t end up training on Tuesday.
Beveridge added that Jason Johannisen is “tracking pretty well”, with the club listing him as 2-3 weeks. He said: “He’s tracking pretty well. We expect him to be available hopefully in a couple of weeks. He’s not far away.”
North Melbourne explained that George Wardlaw was unwell last week before being managed for Sunday’s game. North head of performance Kevin White said: “George had the flu last week so he missed the first three days at the club, then on Thursday through main training he reported to the doctor at the end of the session that he was feeling fatigued, flat and sore.
“Given the interruption of his week, and the interruption across pre-season, we took the conservative approach. He’s feeling much better today (Tuesday) and he’ll look to progress into main training this week and put his hand up for selection.”
The Roos revealed Aaron Hall was battling an Achilles complaint. White said: “From the pre-season Aaron’s had on-going Achilles tendinopathy, where week to week through training sessions and games, it may take time to warm-up and get going and he just found it difficult in that game down in Geelong to get the same quality of movement with that Achilles. He was clearly restricted in terms of his running and his movement, and he just felt that he wasn’t at the point that he could push past the pain in that game.”
Hawthorn revealed James Blanck will miss this week with concussion, while Luke Breust will return after a throat injury. Changkuoth Jiath is in the mix after an Achilles injury.
Collingwood’s update was full of good news with Steele Sidebottom and Brayden Maynard both available after injuries.
GWS revealed back-up ruck Lachie Keeffe will miss three weeks with a hamstring injury, which may impact Kieren Briggs. Xavier O’Halloran will miss seven weeks with a thumb injury which may open the door for someone like Josh Fahey.
Giants Head of Medical James Rahme also said Brent Daniels was close to returning from a hamstring injury. He said: “Brent is back in full training and did an extra session last Saturday in a bid to return to the field this weekend. He’ll need to get through training this week but at this stage we expect him to line up against the Crows on Saturday night.”
West Coast said Luke Shuey and Shannon Hurn are in the mix to return from soreness this week. Eagles Head of Health Mark Finucane said: “Both Luke and Shannon, after pulling up sore from the St Kilda game, just need to get through training this week to be available for the game this weekend against Richmond.”
The Eagles revealed Elliot Yeo is a chance to return for the Round 19 game against Carlton following a hip injury.
Finally, Melbourne provided their latest update on Clayton Oliver. Dees GM of AFL Football Performance Alan Richardson said: “It’s frustrating for him. It’s frustrating for us. I’m sure it’s frustrating for the fans, particularly when he can do most things really well.
“You’d come and watch training and you’d think, why is Clayton not playing? He’s able to get to 90% really easily and quite comfortably it’s just when he goes to the next speed, the next level of speed that he’s having some awareness. He’s still going to be a few weeks obviously with that, but now we think that the way that he’s approaching it and the way that our brilliant medical team are approaching it, that we’re going to end up with a with a really good result there.”
Round Nine Things We Learned in Round 17
Read In The Wings to see who’s pushing for an AFL game via the VFL, WAFL & SANFL
