The early mail is in, with this week’s press conferences offering updates on Tom De Koning, Tristan Xerri, Connor Rozee, Sam Lalor, Izak Rankine, Nick Daicos and Bo Allan.
Carlton coach Michael Voss spoke about their forward options and potentially using Tom De Koning forward with Brodie Kemp and Harry McKay out. He was coy and said: “Yeah possibly. That’s a definite option. Obviously we’ve settled on a few of those things without divulging too much.”
North coach Alastair Clarkson discussed the form of ruckman Tristan Xerri and his injury status. He said: “We wouldn’t play him if he was in any doubt.
“But he’s come up against (good rucks), it’s no different this week against De Koning, the last 3 weeks he played against Gawn and did particularly well. O’Brien against Adelaide, big Witts, Grundy was like he was playing for his career against us two weeks ago. Every week is a significant challenge, particularly in the ruck division. Hopefully he’ll be up for the challenge again.”
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge spoke about the potential return of Marcus Bontempelli. He said: “We can’t expect him to play 90 per cent game time or anything like that.
“He’s trained extremely hard with his cross-training for the duration of his recovery, but there’s no replacement for playing. So he’ll blow up a little bit, but obviously it’s exciting having him back in the team and we really welcome that.”
GWS coach Adam Kingsley spoke about Jesse Hogan’s status, with doubts lingering on muscle soreness for him. He said: “He is a bit sore out of the game (against St Kilda) so we’ll just see how that plays out tomorrow.”
He also provided an update on Brent Daniels (abdominal strain) and Stephen Coniglio (glute).
Kingsley said: “I stood here last week and said I expect them to play this week (against the Crows) and they won’t, so I don’t know the answer. They’re both minor (injuries) but they’re still lingering so I don’t know. Does that make it minor? I don’t know. We want them back out there but we want them to be fit.
“We don’t want to push them out there when they’re not (ready) so we need to manage them really well and make sure they’re symptom-free before we bring them back in.”
Sydney coach Dean Cox provided an update on Callum Mills who is back in full training. He said: “He’ll be out here. He’s building into a training block now. We know Callum has missed a lot of footy over the last couple of years. He’s trained solidly over the weekend.
“He has an opportunity to build over the next week or two. The volume he’s getting done suggests he’s on the upward trajectory. The program that was put in place is about getting him back as quicky as possible but also so when he is back, he can sustain it.”
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley remained coy on Connor Rozee’s half-back role moving forward. Hinkley told reporters on Wednesday: “He will play there when we need him.
“Whenever that is … which could be this week, next week, maybe the week after. I also remember he kicked five goals in his third game of AFL, so I might play him at full forward.
“It is great to have your captain accept what is best for the team. I loved his comment that it allowed him to be a better captain from behind the ball.”
Hinkley also indicated Darcy Byrne-Jones will come back in after suspension while Miles Bergman’s scan on his knee was OK and Hinkley is “optimistic” but a call is still to be made.
Richmond coach Adem Yze provided an update on no.1 draft pick Sam Lalor who missed last game with a hip injury.
Yze said: “He had a really good session over the weekend. He was line ball for last week, we just didn’t want to take any risks. It was a tough call, knowing the form he was in. we just had to take a cautious approach with Sammy. Touch wood, if he gets through today, he’ll be available for this weekend.”
West Coast coach Andrew McQualter hinted at a debut for Lucca Grego, who they took with pick 48 in last year’s AFL Draft. He’s a 184cm half-back who’s been playing some midfield lately in the WAFL.
McQualter said: “He played a little bit there as a junior, but he did spend most of the pre-season as a half-back so he’s learning a new role. Some great signs last week that he’s playing a WAFL standard or maybe even above WAFL standard, which is what we want our players to be able to do.”
The Eagles coach indicated Jeremy McGovern was likely to be available to return from injury, while he was non-committal on a recall for Tim Kelly.
He added that Elliot Yeo is “in a little bit of a holding pattern” having been listed as 4-5 weeks for the past few weeks. He also said Bo Allan needs a few weeks of WAFL action to be considered for AFL after illness.
On Allan, McQualter said: “He’s not dealing with a long-term illness. He’s just had a couple of times where he hasn’t been able to play. We’re confident we’re getting on top of that now. Bo will be able to train and play this week… He just needs to put together a couple of weeks of continuity of training and playing.”
Ruckman Matthew Flynn is in the mix to re-claim his spot too. McQualter said: “He’s been in great for in the last couple of weeks in those WAFL games. Flynny is doing well. He hasn’t played a lot of footy in the last couple of years. It’s good to see him able to string a couple of games together.”
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks insisted Izak Rankine was fine after his calf concern last week, where he had a last-minute fitness test. He said: “He felt great, he went out and as we have seen across this season especially, he impacted the game.”
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan was coy about tagging Nick Daicos in Thursday’s game against Collingwood. He said: “You can spend hours on him, he’s in great form.
“We’ll try some things tomorrow night to quell his influence. Whether that’s with a tagger or not, I’m not 100 per cent sure on that.”
