Wednesday’s early mail is in with updates on Max Gawn, Clayton Oliver, Callum Mills, Isaac Heeney, Elliot Yeo, Jordan Clark and many more.
UPDATES
Melbourne assistant coach Andrew McQualter offered an update on Max Gawn’s bid to return from an ankle injury this weekend. He said: “We’re hopeful, we’ve still got main training to go.
“We’ll do match committee after training but he’s out there preparing to fully train and hopefully he’s good to go. He’s really driven, skipper of the club so he’s certainly doing everything he can to be ready.
“We are (expecting him to play), but he’s still got to get through main training. We’ll see how that goes, hopefully he’s ready to go.”
McQualter also said that Alex Neal-Bullen has the “skillset to match” Lachie Whitfield, hinting at a tag, while he discussed the form of Clayton Oliver too.
He said: “Clayton is great, he’s really determined to play great footy for us, be a great teammate. Every time he comes to training he’s hungry to improve. He probably hasn’t played as well as he has in previous years but he’s still doing a role for us. Teams are still tagging him. There’s a lot of stuff he’s doing right.”
Sydney coach John Longmire discussed the idea of Isaac Heeney with Tom Papley out and midfielders like Callum Mills and Luke Parker likely available. Longmire said: “It gives you all sorts of opportunities. We’ll do what we need to do.
“We have to be mindful Parker can play forward as well. We’re also mindful that Isaac’s been really good for us in the midfield. Without McInerney, Mills just coming back into form and fitness, his ability to do what he does in the midfield is also strong. I don’t think it’ll be this will happen and that will happen, it’ll be a blend of everything.”
Mills missed last round after a long layoff and Longmire explained he’s likely to return. He said: “We expect Millsy to come back in the team. We were mindful of him last week. He did a drill on the Thursday. He pulled up really well from that, but we didn’t want to push him too hard. It gives him another week of training, which he’s been able to do. We expect him to get through training this week, hopefully all good, and be able to play on the weekend.
“He was just a bit tight last week, given his prep, we thought it wasn’t a smart move to push him. The longer term view was a bit smarter.”
Longmire clarified Papley (ankle) will likely miss 4-6 weeks and Dane Rampe (calf) would be out for 1-2 weeks.
West Coast caretaker coach Jarrad Schofield was hopeful on Elliot Yeo’s availability, when asked about him along with Jeremy McGovern and Jake Waterman.
He told 7NewsPerth: “We’d like to think so. We’ve got to get through a couple of training sessions. All 3 will look to put their case forward.”
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said Liam Jones wouldn’t return via the VFL if declared fit to return from a medial ligament injury.
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir confirmed on 7NewsPerth that Alex Pearce will need surgery on his fractured arm and will miss several games.
Longmuir also dismissed any injury concerns for Jordan Clark who wore an arm brace at training on Tuesday. He said: “Nothing serious. He’s had a little injury in that wrist for a number of weeks now.”
