The early mail is in ahead of Thursday’s team news with updates on James Sicily, Jack Ginnivan, Calsher Dear, George Wardlaw, Zac Fisher, Dustin Martin, Mattaes Phillipou and Dion Prestia.
Press Conferences
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said the trio of James Sicily, Jack Ginnivan and Calsher Dear are all a chance to return for the Hawks and take on Fremantle this weekend.
He said: “A few boys will have a test today. Ginny more unlikely than likely, but not ruled out. Sic and Calsher more likely than unlikely, but not ticked off yet. That’s about as much as I can tell you so far.”
On Sicily, Mitchell added: “A lot of his is around confidence and static strength. They do these boring little tests that look like nothing, but it gives you a good measure of the stability of the shoulder. Again, I’m not a medical expert, but I’ll trust the physios and the doctors. If they say he’s available then he’ll play. If they say he’s not, then I’ll be grumpy and he won’t.”
Mitchell also discussed the potential options who could come in to replace luckless key forward Mitch Lewis, who will miss the remainder of the season with an ACL injury.
He said: “We brought in Jasper Scaife in the mid-season period. I think he’s a chance at the right time, whether that’s this week or in the coming weeks. I think he’s played some pretty good footy in the VFL. The other one is Max Ramsden, who’s been really strong. His form has been excellent. So I think we’ve got some options.”
North Melbourne coach Alistair Clarkson said the Kangas are set to welcome back George Wardlaw to take on Sydney, having missed the last fortnight with a concussion suffered at training.
Clarkson said: “He’s good to go, it’ll be good to have him back in the side.”
Defender Zac Fisher is also pushing to return to the side as he looks too overcome a minor foot injury. Fisher took part in training with the main group this morning and will be considered for selection provided he pulls up well.
On Fisher’s chances, Clarkson said: “We’ve got a few guys that are coming back. Wil Dawson is available to play, Griff Logue is coming back from that knee. Obviously Zac, we’ve got a couple of other lads too. Our list and availability is pretty strong. We’ll sit down this afternoon and work out what our side is, it’s a good problem to have coming off a victory where you don’t want to make too much change to your side.”
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon discussed Mattaes Phillipou who returned last week after a 6-week VFL stint with a prime midfield role and big score. He said: “We drafted him as a midfielder, he hadn’t played much midfield. He went in there and we put him in there without building his craft. We did him a disservice. We just sat down, let’s go back, he goes ‘I just want to build my midfield craft. when you think I’m ready, (pick me)’.
“But he loved it down there, he settled, we saw the best in him. Fitted into the team dynamic. If he can play like that every week we’ll have an all Australian. We know he’s going to have ups and downs. He compliments that younger group that are here to elevate.”
Richmond coach Adem Yze said veteran star Dustin Martin will be unavailable for the Tigers clash against the Giants this weekend as he continues to manage a back niggle.
He said: “(Martin) is still a little bit sore. We’ve made the decision, if we go and try and train today it might keep aggravating it. We’re going to give him this week off so he can have a proper run into the following week … he won’t train today and he won’t play.”
Yze added that Dion Prestia and Samson Ryan will both be available for selection this week, each player having overcome their respective injury issues.
He said: “(Prestia) was almost ready last week. We got a bit more volume into him. He’ll be available this week, which is awesome. He’s a leader of our footy club and really important to the way that we play. He’ll get through training today, and so will Samson Ryan.”
