The Sunday teams have been confirmed with Jack Ziebell out of North’s 22 for the third straight game, while there were updates on Zak Butters, Sean Darcy, Adam Cerra and Patrick Cripps at press conferences.
SUNDAY TEAMS
Key ins: Callaghan, Chandler, Goldstein
Key outs: Fahey, Fiorini, Laird (inj), Peris, Stocker, Wardlaw (inj), Ziebell (mng)
Key holds: Angwin, Humphrey, Jordon, Windhager
Possible subs/emergencies: Tsitas, Grundy, L.Nankervis, Stocker, Ziebell, Greenwood
Confirmed sub: Fahey
Jack Ziebell is listed as “managed” by North Melbourne, named as one of four emergencies but not declared sub for the third straight game. However, GWS confirmed Josh Fahey will be their sub in his home town Canberra.
UPDATES
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has moved to allay fears about the availability of Zak Butters (AF $850k SC $552k M/F) who underwent scans on a groin injury after sitting out the last quarter of their Round 18 loss to Carlton.
Butters was named in Port’s 22 on Thursday and Hinkley told reporters on Friday: “I can understand the question on Zak. But Zak has basically sprained his hip more than anything. It wasn’t an adductor injury which we thought it may have been after the game. Soft tissues are a much different thing to handle. We’re really optimistic about Zak being at his best.”
Hinkley added: “There’s no risk. We wouldn’t pick them if there was any risk.”
Hinkley confirmed that Dylan Williams (AF $568k SC $393k D/F) would be sub for the game against Collingwood. He said: “Dylan is not just a bit unlucky, he’s a lot unlucky. We have a lot of our defenders available. Dylan will be our sub. He deserves to be in our team… He’s been a really worthy part of our team.”
Fremantle ruckman Sean Darcy (AF $790k SC $553k RUC) appears set for a lengthy stint on the sidelines, making him a must trade, with the Dockers weighing up ankle surgery. Freo Executive General Manager of Football Peter Bell told 6PR: “It’s reasonably serious.
“Sean’s having consultations with some specialists and potentially may even have surgery on the ankle ligaments that he’s damaged. We’re just working our way through that and we’ll make a final decision early next week. It may be a little longer than we’re all expecting, so we’ll update accordingly early next week.”
Carlton coach Michael Voss discussed the hamstring and calf injuries to Adam Cerra and Patrick Cripps (AF $718k SC $518k MID) respectively that have forced them out this round. On both, he said: “We are (confident for Round 20), obviously they’ve still got to get through a test next week but we feel like it’s more on the minor end.”
On Cerra, Voss said: “Obviously Cez wasn’t able to finish out the game last week so that’s a bit more obvious.
On Cripps, Voss said: “The one which was a bit more of a surprise was Crippa. Obviously the cork bled a little bit more than we would’ve liked so that really inhibited him during this week so he hasn’t been able to train. The option is for us to not play him and he’ll have to go through a test next week.”
On whether the cork needs the blood to be drained, Voss added: “Explored that as an option but didn’t need to take that course of action. We hope it settles down. It was the last 24 hours it’s settled down a little bit but as of yesterday there was probably a fair bit of risk even for next week, but it seems to have settled down in the last 24 hours.”
Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan explained the calf injury which led to Zac Bailey’s absence this round. He said: “It was at training yesterday. He just did a little calf injury. It’s on the minor side. I don’t know whether he’ll be right for next week or not. I would’ve thought he’d definitely be right for the week after, but he’ll be touch and go for next week.”
Fagan also clarified Jarryd Lyons’ omission was due to Josh Dunkley’s return after two weeks out with a calf injury, which seems all but confirmed. He said: “You’ve got to have balance in your team. If Josh Dunkley comes back in, he’s a similar player, we can’t really afford to have too many inside mids in the team at the same time. It’s all about what you want in the inside and the outside. Tough on Jarryd but he came in with the right attitude and we know we can call upon him.”
Read Thursday’s injury/selection news with updates on Cameron, Dunkley, Young, Cripps and more
Find out all the Round 18 role changes with our analysis. Read here
