AFL 2023: All the latest round two injury news
Richmond champion Dustin Martin will come under intense scrutiny at training after undergoing scans for a soft tissue injury, while St Kilda’s Jack Steele is to be sidelined for weeks.
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Richmond is still hopeful Dustin Martin will take on Collingwood on Friday night despite having scans on Sunday for a low-level hamstring issue.
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick said on Saturday after Martin was subbed out in the last quarter of the win over Adelaide that he had only been managed.
The Tigers have a six-day break leading into their blockbuster clash against unbeaten Collingwood on Friday night.
Richmond believes Martin will play in that game and could have kept him on the field but given they can now use the sub as a management tool took him off out of an abundance of caution.
But it will mean Martin will be heavily scrutinised on the training track this week given his history with hamstring complaints.
Martin suffered a string of setbacks late last season after a round 16 injury and after a recurrence on the training track only returned for the elimination final.
He won 15 possessions in that game but was quieter than normal.
So given the Tigers are in a strong position with a win and a draw they would be determined not to risk Martin if there is a high chance of making that hamstring injury worse.
Jacob Hopper also had scans on his ankle on Sunday with the Tigers still unsure if he will play against the Pies.
He returned to the field after having to be helped off the ground but will still need an exact diagnosis that could rule him out against the white-hot Pies.
Collarbone injury to sideline Steele for month
Jack Steele has broken his collarbone and will miss the next month in a crushing blow for the St Kilda captain.
The courageous midfielder played out the game in a rousing victory over the Western Bulldogs yet was clearly hampered in his latest shoulder injury.
Last year he missed seven weeks after damaging his AC joint, with St Kilda coach Ross Lyon fearing on Saturday night he had a hairline fracture of the same part of his shoulder.
Instead he snapped his collarbone but with surgery on Monday the Saints expect he will be able to return within a month.
He will miss the club’s 150th anniversary clash against Essendon on Saturday which could draw as many as 65,000 fans.
St Kilda fans will be thrilled with the application and effort of the new Saints under Lyon, but the senior coach will have to rejig his midfield given Steele’s absence.
Lyon was thrilled with his youngsters as Mitch Owens (three goals) and Anthony Caminiti (two goals) fired in the absence of Max King.
“I always say it to players, if I see it at training, good or bad, I’ll see it in the game,” he said.
“I’ve seen Mattaes (Phillipou) at training kicking it from outside 50. I’ve experienced Mitch Owens’ workrate.
“We haven’t hoped with Caminiti. He came in the first day at training and took those marks, he had that ground level, he has that speed.
“We picked them on what we saw and what they’ve been doing in AFL footy.”
Injured Dogs trio in desperate race for Lions clash
The Western Bulldogs believe injured trio Ryan Gardiner, Rory Lobb and Adam Treloar will push hard to take on Josh Dunkley’s Brisbane on Thursday as the club frantically tries to turn around a disastrous start to the season.
The Dogs were embarrassed by Ross Lyon’s St Kilda on Saturday night as the defensive system collapsed, the midfield was trounced and the much-vaunted forward line was impotent kicking just five goals.
On Monday the Dogs are set for what shapes as a brutal game review after a performance veteran Hayden Crozier said had let the club and its supporters down.
Dunkley’s move to Brisbane has exposed the Dogs’s midfield depth and again highlighted the drain of players to rival clubs.
But Gardiner (elbow), Lobb (ankle) and Treloar (hamstring) all trained well on Saturday and are in line to take on the Lions.
A five-day turnaround will mean limited track time to focus on the system failures that led the Dogs down.
But it will quickly give the Dogs players a chance to atone for a loss that highlighted the extreme lack of effort by senior players.
Club legend Brad Johnson called for urgent “change” to the club’s tactics on Saturday night given the defensive failures.
The Dogs do not believe fitness is an issue under fitness boss Matt Inness despite Beveridge saying the players had been “outworked” in the first fortnight.
Much-hyped forward Sam Darcy has had eight possessions across two games and might have to go back into defence to spark his form in a team that still needs a legitimate interceptor.
Beveridge said he would need to be “innovative” to get his players up for Thursday clash at Marvel Stadium and Johnson called for match style tweaks on Fox Footy.
“It’s a passion and grit discussion when you add another layer to it,” Johnson said.
“Their good players are getting enough ball but is there enough coming from it? No.
“That’s part of the ball movement and it’s what St Kilda gave them tonight, but the Dogs didn’t attempt to be creative to break through that.
“Every time they got the ball it ended up going slow and wide. They won enough down back but it was just slow and wide.
“From a system perspective the Bulldogs weren’t able to break through at all.
“That has to alter immediately. Collingwood would kick 20 goals on them in a heartbeat the way they’re currently playing. Change needs to be made.”
Beveridge said the club’s early-season malaise was due to a combination of circumstances but wasn’t about pure fitness.
“I think you would have to say the first two rounds we have been outworked. We had a really solid pre-season,” he said.
“We have got 11 on the injury list at the moment but its not an excuse. You need a deep squad but there is no doubt that when we compare our output in terms of the ground cover and in the intensity of it and speed of it we haven’t been up to the level the first two teams we played have.”
Gawn learns fate after ACL scare
– Scott Gullan and Jay Clark
Thankfully pictures didn’t tell the story for Max Gawn.
The sight of the Melbourne captain looking devastated in the rooms after he injured his knee early in Friday night’s clash with the Brisbane Lions had Demons fans fearing the worst.
Fortunately it appears Gawn has only suffered a medial strain and will miss between four and six matches.
The game’s best ruckman flew back to Melbourne on Saturday morning and immediately went to have scans on his knee.
“Max had scans which show a moderate-grade medial ligament injury and, at this stage, we expect him to available in four to six weeks,” Melbourne’s football manager Alan Richardson said.
“Max has seen a knee specialist and is working with our medical and high-performance team to determine the best return to play rehabilitation program.”
There was a lot of concern about Gawn given his medical history.
The 183-game veteran and six-time All-Australian came from the field in the opening minutes of the match at the Gabba and had his hands on his head as he was taken down to the rooms for assessment by medical staff.
He had suffered the injury at a centre bounce when teammate Jack Viney went to ground and accidentally fell across the ruckman’s left knee.
Gawn, 31, missed the entire 2012 season after he tore both his meniscus and ACL in his right knee during pre-season.
He also suffered an ACL injury on his right knee during his draft year with TAC Cup side Sandringham Dragons in 2009.
But in the past two years Gawn has missed just two games through injury and led the Demons to their 2021 premiership.
Melbourne recruit Brodie Grundy – himself a two-time All-Australian – was promptly moved into the primary ruck role after Gawn’s injury on Friday night.
Tom McDonald and even star midfielder Christian Petracca were also called upon as back-up ruckmen.
Demons key defender Steven May was a late withdrawal from last night’s match after failing to meet the required speed markers in a fitness test on his calf.
Melbourne is hopeful May will return against Sydney next Sunday.
Defender Christian Salem will also miss six weeks after he hurt his knee at training.
ANOTHER SETBACK FOR LUCKLESS DEES STAR
Jon Ralph
Melbourne star defender Christian Salem has had his return to football delayed by a knee injury that could put him out for another month.
Salem had just been cleared to return to AFL football after a summer thyroid issue but pulled up sore after main training this week.
Scans on his knee determined that he had a small tear in his meniscus.
The Demons will have more clarity on his return to football early next week but believe the meniscus issue is at the lower end of the scale.
Meniscus surgery to repair cartilage damage can put players out for up to 12 weeks but the Demons are confident he will be back in a much shorter time frame.
Melbourne football boss Alan Richardson said the club had yet to determine whether he needed surgery.
“Christian has suffered an injury to his left knee and won’t be available to play in Casey’s VFL match on Saturday as planned,” he said.
“He experienced some soreness following the main training session earlier in the week and scans have today revealed a small tear in his meniscus”
“We are still gathering further information and will be in a better position next week to understand what his rehabilitation program looks like.”
Salem had fully recovered from a second issue with his thyroid across his career, with the treatment helping resolve symptoms which involve the body’s impacts the body’s heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and weight.
The Demons have an excellent injury list that contains only Salem and Taj Woewodin, who needed surgery on a badly broken finger.
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