West Coast ruckman Nathan Vardy injured in practice match against Fremantle
WEST Coast has suffered another injury blow, leaving big question marks ahead of Round 1 with no return date for superstar Nic Naitanui.
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WEST Coast ruckman Nathan Vardy will have scans to determine the severity of an adductor injury he suffered in a practice match against Fremantle on Sunday.
Question marks hang over the Eagles’ ruck division before Round 1, with Nic Naitanui yet to return from the knee reconstruction that ruled him out of the 2017 season.
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Vardy suffered what appeared to be a serious adductor injury during the 29-point practice match loss to the Dockers at Lathlain Park.
The 26-year-old crashed to the turf early in the last quarter and had to be helped off by two trainers.
“It doesn’t look great at the moment. He’s pretty sore,” Eagles assistant coach Nathan van Berlo said.
Naitanui is progressing well in training but it remains unclear when he will be cleared to return to the field, leaving him short of match fitness ahead of the Round 1 clash against Sydney on March 25.
“Nic is building. He’s probably unlikely to play next week (in the JLT Series), but he had a really good hitout yesterday with the boys and moved really well,” van Berlo said.
“Provided he keeps pulling up well then he’s progressing as we hoped for.
“We have to wait and see how he goes in prep for Round 1, but we’ve got to have a holistic picture in preparing him to play a season of footy.
“That’s the same with the rest of our group, but particularly Nic.”
The likely absence of Naitanui and Vardy leaves the ruck load on Scott Lycett, who played one match last year due to shoulder injuries.
Livewire forwards Willie Rioli (two goals) and Liam Ryan (one) provided some highlights for the Eagles in Sunday’s practice match while Cam McCarthy booted three for the Dockers.
Fremantle’s rookie bolter Bailey Banfield pushed his claims for a Round 1 start with another impressive display.
Dockers skipper Nat Fyfe was rested and the Eagles were without defender Jeremy McGovern (concussion), captain Shannon Hurn, Josh Kennedy (ankle), Luke Shuey, Andrew Gaff, Mark LeCras, Jack Darling and Jack Redden.
In other injury news, Geelong moved to allay fears exciting recruit Tim Kelly was seriously hurt in the Cats’ 56-point loss to Gold Coast. The mature-age draftee flashed moments of brilliance on the ball early in the match played in Townsville before departing for good in the third quarter. “He copped a corkie in a contest but he could have kept playing,” assistant coach Matthew Knights said.
“We just got some ice onto him so we can get him right for next week.” Suns forward Sean Lemmens left the match in the final term with what coach Stuart Dew said appeared to be a typical hamstring tear, which puts him in doubt for round one.
Originally published as West Coast ruckman Nathan Vardy injured in practice match against Fremantle
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