Thursday’s early mail is in with updates on Harry Sheezel, Colby McKercher, Jaxon Binns, Stephen Coniglio, Adam Cerra’s role, Mattaes Phillipou’s timeline and much more.
UPDATES
North coach Alastair Clarkson dismissed any talk of a Harry Sheezel issue after a light training day. He said: “We had a few guys we just managed on a six-day break. Heavier deck today, we just made sure we managed a few players. That’s par for the course on any six-day break.”
Clarkson also discussed Colby McKercher’s fitness, amid talk of a rest. When asked if he’d get up to play in his home state Tasmania, Clarkson said: We hope so. He’s been managed. He’ll train again tomorrow and see how he goes. Like a lot of players this time of year, he’s just craving a bit of a spell from the bumps and bruises of the season.”
Carlton coach Michael Voss confirmed Marc Pittonet will play with Tom De Koning out, while Blake Acres will miss after a knock last round and a five-day turnaround.
Jaxon Binns is in the mix to replace him after 47 disposals in the VFL. Voss said: “I think his last two weeks have been particularly impressive as have a few others. We’ll balance that up against who is in there and the current roles we ask players to do.”
Voss also discussed Adam Cerra’s role off half-back. He said: “We thought what he did was pretty positive. To have something a bit different we can go to, throughout the game last week we had to call on a couple of guys to shift positions: Matt Kennedy went from full forward to full back in 20 minutes.
“[Cerra’s] adjustment was really important to us. It gave us a different look forward of the ball and we had to tweak a few things to get the game back on our terms, we’ll continue to encourage that. It’s not something where we’ll say he’s playing there until the end of the year, but if we can go to it, we feel like it’ll be useful.”
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon discussed Zak Jones’ midfield role and the timeline on Mattaes Phillipou’s return. He said: “Jones has popped, a lot of contested ball. Mattaes is the only one we’re missing, we’re hopeful he’ll come back next week because he really made some exciting ground in his last 2 performances.”
Richmond coach Adem Yze confirmed Tim Taranto and Nick Vlastuin would return from layoffs. Yze said: “Tim coming straight out of the protocols. He bounced out of that straight away and trained really well on Tuesday.
“Nick Vlastuin had a grumbly back for about a month. He’s another who kept pushing through for 4 weeks. We needed to break the cycle. We had a 6-day break and he bounced out of that really well.”
Yze added that Maurice Rioli Jnr and Marlion Pickett would likely play limited minutes in the VFL.
GWS coach Adam Kingsley ruled out Stephen Coniglio from playing this week, while he confirmed full-back Sam Taylor will return. Kingsley said: “Cogs won’t play this week. His shoulder is just not quite ready. Hopefully he’ll be available next week. I expect he will be. But he needs to get through training.”
Port coach Ken Hinkley wasn’t asked about Connor Rozee’s hip problem from last weekend during his weekly press conference.
Hinkley did confirm Todd Marshall won’t play but is “nearly ready” while Kane Farrell (hamstring) and Lachie Jones (concussion protocols) were in contention to return.
Geelong coach Chris Scott confirmed Tanner Bruhn will come back from a wrist injury. He said: “He is ready to play and ready to play well.” Scott also said Tom Atkins needed to prove he was 100% to return, while Shannon Neale was “likely” to return.
Essendon coach Brad Scott confirmed Darcy Parish will return from a calf injury, but hadn’t decided if it would be VFL or AFL.
Scott said on Wednesday: “He did a really good session on the weekend. He probably could’ve played. He’s ready to play. We just need to see him train really strongly today and then make a final decision tomorrow based on where he plays.”
Richmond coach Adem Yze said they wouldn’t take any risks with Dustin Martin who was back in training this week.
