Wednesday’s early mail is live with key updates on Marcus Bontempelli, Andy Brayshaw, Isaac Heeney, Clayton Oliver, Kynan Brown, Caiden Cleary, Trent Rivers and Patrick Dangerfield.
UPDATES
Gun Western Bulldogs midfielder Marcus Bontempelli seems to be in doubt again for this weekend’s game due to a shoulder issue sustained at training.
The Dogs face North Melbourne early on Saturday afternoon and while there’s no official word from the club, Bontempelli’s concern has been widely reported by media watching training on Wednesday.
Bontempelli fell awkwardly in a tackle and exited training prematurely. He’ll undergo further assessment in coming days.
Fox Sports’ Drew Jones late reported that the Dogs were confident he’d be OK to play, pending a Friday fitness test, with the issue not believed to be serious.
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir indicated that Josh Draper is the “likely option” to replace the injured Alex Pearce, insisting Brennan Cox isn’t ready just yet after a long-term hamstring injury.
Longmuir also discussed the form of ruckman Sean Darcy. He said: “I think Sean is really building his form. I think his game on the weekend against a big physical ruckman was outstanding. Seemed a little bit more proactive around the ground which I liked.”
There also were more training reports with Andy Brayshaw leaving the track early hampered by a right leg issue. Longmuir wasn’t asked about him.
Sydney coach John Longmire was asked about Isaac Heeney whose form has dipped slightly amid some concerns over a shoulder knock. Longmire said: “No, he’s good. He copped a bit of a knock the week before in the last minute over in Adelaide. But no he’s fine, he’s all good.”
Longmire was also asked about Caiden Cleary making the 22 after debuting last round as sub. He said: “It’s a bit early to work out. He only played about 15 to 20 minutes and did a good job. He’s adapted to a bit of a different role and we’d love to give him another opportunity. We’ll sit down and work that out.
“It was good for Matty Roberts to play a full game in our VFL team. That was really important. We’re making sure that next group coming in get some experience, but also some exposure in fitness and form so when they get their opportunity, they’re ready to go.”
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin spoke about Clayton Oliver’s down game against North Melbourne and how they can help him out when tagged.
Goodwin said: “Obviously, we’ve spent some time on how we can help Clayton, he’s an important player to us. He certainly wasn’t happy with the way he played on the weekend, not only from an impact perspective, but obviously giving away so many free kicks.
“He’s had some challenges leading into the season, we all know that, but he’s put in a hell of a lot of work into getting himself ready for AFL footy and to be honest, he’s still having an impact for this team, you can only tell that by opposition teams tagging him. He wants to play better, clearly, but he’s working incredibly hard to do that, and we feel like it’s not too far away.”
Goodwin also discussed Kynan Brown who debuted last round as sub. He said: “Obviously he only played the 10 minutes. He brings a lot of speed, a lot of energy, he’s still developing his game for AFL footy.
“He’s one of those young players in our team that has come in and got that experience at AFL level. We’ll have a look at that once we get through full training today to work out where that sits for his selection.”
The Dees coach also discussed Trent Rivers’ midfield move, taking up Christian Petracca’s role. He said: “He embraced the role that was only given to him obviously when Christian went out of the team. I thought he was outstanding for us. We think we’ve found something with Trent.
“From last week’s performance, he looks like a high-class midfielder in the making. We’ll continue to press on with that and give him another look at it this week against a really formidable team in the midfield.”
Goodwin said defender Jake Lever simply needed to get through training to return from injury, while he said young key forward Matt Jefferson was “getting closer” to selection.
Melbourne confirmed Andy Moniz-Wakefield will make his AFL debut this weekend, with the 20-year-old defender averaging 25 disposals across 11 VFL games this year. He’s a Category B rookie who hails from Darwin.
Patrick Dangerfield had his one-game suspension for a dangerous tackle successfully overturned at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks said Taylor Walker had more work to do to prove his fitness to return from a back injury. He said: “We will make that call come captains run on Friday, but we are pretty confident he is going to be ok.”
Tall forward Riley Thilthorpe is also set to return via the SANFL following injury.
Essendon coach Brad Scott indicated Sam Draper will likely hold out Todd Goldstein from a return this week.
Scott also offered an update on Darcy Parish’s return from a calf injury. He said: “It’s probably slower than we’d like. That’s not to say he’s not progressing. He is progressing. My input into Darce’s rehab is be conservative because we need him.”
