Norwood’s Matthew Panos ruled out due to small fracture in his heel

Norwood’s engine room had been hurt by the loss of Matt Nunn and Will Abbott, now another Redlegs star has been hit with injury.

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Norwood gun midfielder Matt Panos will miss up to four weeks of action after scans revealed a small fracture in his heel.

Panos damaged the heel in his Bob Quinn Medal winning performance in the Anzac Day victory over North Adelaide on April 25.

Norwood's Matthew Panos has been sidelined because of a small fracture in his heel. Picture: Dean Martin/AAP

The class onballer then missed the loss to Adelaide because of illness, before returning to face Woodville-West Torrens following the bye for the state game.

But scans were necessary when Panos complained of soreness against the Eagles and the Redlegs are hoping he will be sidelined for just another two games, starting with the contest against West Adelaide at The Parade on Friday night.

The Redlegs are already without two key components of its engine room with Matthew Nunn out of the side recovering from a hip injury and Will Abbott missing for up to eight weeks after hurting his knee against the Crows.

Despite the hip issue, Nunn was involved in the medical screening for the AFL mid-season draft last week.

The Bloods have been weakened by the loss of ball magnet Will Snelling and wingman John Noble after they were taken in the AFL midseason draft on Monday night.

The pair were training at Richmond Oval when they were selected and Bloods coach Gavin Colville addressed the matter immediately. He said the draft had not been discussed since.

“It was an odd situation on Monday night,” Colville said. “Will was half way through a training drill when he found out he had been picked up.

“We addressed the situation with the group then, wished Will and John well and then kept moving forward. We won’t discuss it again.

“People can have their opinion and it makes things a bit tougher, but we have job to do.

“It has not been hard to keep the boys upbeat. The guys are enjoying their football.

“We would love to be 6-1 (win-loss) and not 1-6, but it does not mean you can’t enjoy your football, your mates and the journey we are on.

“Nobody is bigger than the club. While it is disappointing to lose the players, we have to keep moving forward.”