Wednesday’s early mail has dropped following a handful of press conferences with updates on Harry Sheezel, Clayton Oliver, Will Day, Sean Darcy, Brodie Grundy and Callum Mills.
UPDATES
North Melbourne’s Harry Sheezel appeared on SEN still wearing a moonboot and downplayed his chances of overcoming an ankle injury to play this round. He said: “No, I don’t think I will play this week with the ankle. I’m probably going to miss this week.
“I’ll give myself every chance to maybe play the last game against the Hawks, but it could be season over. We’ll see, I’ll give myself a chance, we’re just going to play it day by day.”
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has revealed Clayton Oliver’s season is over, with the midfielder to be put in cotton wool with the Demons out of finals contention with 2 games to go.
Goodwin said: “He’s had some surgery on his hand to remove a plate from his hand. He’s also got a PCL that he’s dealing with. Post game he woke up with some sore ribs. He’s got a crack in a few of those ribs.”
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell offered an update on Will Day who was subbed out on the weekend, having been asked if he’d be managed. He said: “No, he’s been sat on pretty tightly the last 2 weeks. He’s carried a pretty heavy workload for the majority of the season.
“We’re not looking at resting players. We’re definitely far from that state of mind. We lose this game our season is as good as over. Will has been enormously consistent for us.”
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said Josh Treacy would be “touch and go” to return this week but “probably more unlikely than likely” following a knee complaint.
Sean Darcy missed Freo’s last game due to knee soreness, forcing Luke Jackson to lead the ruck. Longmuir said: “He’s in a good space. He hasn’t done much since the game. He’ll do a bit more training. We’ll try get him at the back end and see how he goes… it’s not going to get 100% by the end of the year.”
If Darcy isn’t available, Longmuir was asked if Liam Reidy could debut and why he didn’t play against Geelong. He said: “That’s a possibility. There’s a lot that goes into that decision.
“We probably Sean was going to play. To make your debut being a carry-over, whether that’s the right thing. Plus he needs to get minutes. If he had have missed (WAFL) on the weekend it would’ve been 1 game in 5 weeks and fitness becomes an issue. He will be (more prepared) because he got a full game for Peel. He acquitted himself well.”
Sydney coach John Longmire played down concerns that ruckman Brodie Grundy may be rested having missed training earlier in the week.
“No, he feels good,” Longmire said. We manage him during the week and so that’s important. We take the load off him during the week as we do a number of our players. They’re all on the individual programs during the week. He’s feeling fresh on match day and we rely upon his ability to be able to understand his body.
“We’ve still got some options we can use during the course of the game. Obviously, Hayden gives him a hand at times, and we’ve still got Joel that can do that as well.”
Longmire was also asked about the form of Callum Mills who has been below his best since returning from long-term injury.
He said: “It’s to be expected. No matter how good a player you are, it’s a tough game to play. He’s still got an enormous presence in our team without necessarily having to do it through kicks, marks and handballs. He’s still a vital member of our team and the way he leads the team is so critical. He sees the game so well. He gets stuff done.”
Essendon coach Brad Scott said Jordan Ridley (hip) was in the mix to return in Round 24. He said: “No, he’s a good chance to get back. I doubt it’ll be this week. But he’s pushing to be back. We haven’t put a line anyone.”
Port assistant coach Josh Carr hailed Jason Horne-Francis for his role on the weekend. He said: “He obviously was important to that game and what he did, you know, around the footy, forward of the footy, and then in the last few minutes, behind the footy. It’s like we had three of him out there, which was nice.”
