The Brisbane Lions revealed Hugh McCluggage will miss their Q-Clash with Gold Coast due to injury.
The Lions announced McCluggage’s absence when teams were revealed on Thursday night. Brisbane’s update said: “Hugh McCluggage will also miss with a calf complaint following training on Thursday.”
Carlton interim coach Josh Fraser says he expects Nic Newman to be available for their clash with Essendon on Sunday, despite finger surgery this week.
Fraser said on Thursday ahead of team selection: “Nic will train today. We expect him to get through and be available.”
Essendon caretaker coach Dean Solomon provided some updates on their injury selection dilemmas. He said: “Those two (Sam Durham and Mason Redman) will be back, Jordan Ridley potentially – we’ll see how he feels after training and discuss with him where he’s at.”
The Dons later confirmed Darcy Parish would miss Sunday’s game with “knee soreness”.
West Coast omitted young gun Josh Lindsay with the return of Brandon Starcevich, with the Club’s team news story indicating he’s been dropped, rather than rested or managed.
Several debutants have already been confirmed this round, including Melbourne’s 194cm forward Luker Kentfield and Collingwood’s mid-season draftee Mitch Podhajski, who is a mature-age key forward, for the King’s Birthday game.
Gold Coast also confirmed a debut for 19-year-old 185cm midfielder Jai Murray, who went with pick 17 in the 2025 AFL Draft. “Jai has dealt with some adversity through injury, but ever since he walked into the club, even throughout his time in our Academy, we’ve been thoroughly impressed with this work rate, and his self drive,” Suns coach Damien Hardwick said.
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks heaped praise on debutant Hugo Hall-Kahan after Thursday’s win over Geelong.
Nicks said: “He was great wasn’t he? Credit where it’s due with our coaching group, for them to see what they saw and have no fear in making the decision to play a young lad who doesn’t know our game plan. But we knew there was something in his game that would complement us, and even looking at the game and how it played out in the rain, he had some weapons and was just outstanding.
“He had some real key moments, he was so calm in the ball, it was all the stuff we had seen him do in the VFL and we had no doubt he was a player and will be a player that just needed the opportunity. So I’m just so glad our coaching group pushed it, drove it and wanted to go there – it was just a brave decision that I’m very glad came off.”
Nicks also discussed Jordan Dawson’s display after copping a heavy hit which left him limping.
Nicks said: “He’s a warrior, he’s not the only one, but he incredibly just kept going. We had a brief chat at three-quarter-time and I talked about it being best that he went forward, and he said let me have five minutes on-ball and he’ll change the game, and he did.
“It’s probably a performance that doesn’t surprise us, that’s why he’s our Captain because he finds a way. You need certain players like that in certain spots in games like that tonight, and he stood up for us.”
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Ben Somerford
