AFL Round 14 injury news: Get the latest on who is hurt at your club
Carlton star Patrick Cripps has contacted Collingwood’s Chris Mayne to check on his welfare after a brutal, fair collision between the pair on Sunday fractured the Magpie veteran’s cheekbone.
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Carlton superstar Patrick Cripps has reached out to Collingwood utility Chris Mayne for the heavy collision which fractured the Magpie’s cheekbone on Sunday.
Mayne was set to have surgery on Monday to help repair the injury, which is expected to sideline him for at least several weeks.
It adds to Collingwood’s lengthy injury list, although the club is confident Jordan De Goey (finger), Adam Treloar (hamstring) and Jeremy Howe (knee) are all on track to bolster their finals tilt.
Cripps also had scans on a sore knee on Monday, but remains keen to take on Greater Western Sydney on Thursday despite a short turnaround.
Running at high speed, the Blues’ co-captain cannoned into Mayne in one of the most forceful fair bumps of the season.
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Mayne, who was knocked out in the incident and sent to hospital, drew the widespread admiration of his teammates on social media after the match for his incredible bravery.
Cripps on Monday said he made contact with Mayne on Sunday night to check the Magpies’ midfielder was OK.
“I actually messaged him last night, obviously he is a tough bugger,” Cripps said.
“It was a good hit.
“I had eyes for the ball and you love physical contact in footy, but you hate seeing guys get injured.
“I made sure he was all right last night, I think he is in good spirits.
“It looked pretty bad when I watched the replay back, but hopefully he has a quick recovery and can play some footy again this year.”
Mayne will be missing for at least Friday’s clash against Brisbane on Friday at the Gabba and then the Round 17 tussle against Gold Coast on September 14, and possibly longer depending on how the injury heals.
The injury can take anywhere between two and six weeks to mend depending on the damage.
The Magpies will take on Port Adelaide in the final round in a contest which will decide crucial finals positions including a potential double chance.
Carlton remains in the finals running, but would have to win at least three of its final four games to barge into the eight.
Cripps came to the bench on Sunday with his sore knee, but played out the game.
He will have to pass a fitness test to book his spot against the Giants.
TOUGH TIGER TARGETS FINALS RETURN
— Matt Turner
Richmond expects reigning best and fairest Dion Prestia to have an intravenous drip removed on Monday afternoon and to start running again on Tuesday ahead of a possible return near the finals.
But All-Australian defender Dylan Grimes has been ruled out of Wednesday’s clash with Fremantle because of his “minor” hamstring injury from the 27-point win over West Coast last Thursday night.
The premiership duo were both away from the main group at Tigers training at Metricon Stadium on Monday morning – Prestia walked around the oval with the drip in his left arm and a bum bag around his waist carrying fluid, so antibiotics could flush out an ankle infection, while Grimes jogged laps and completed other fitness work.
Prestia has been sidelined since injuring his ankle in Round 5 but the club is hopeful he may return for the last home-and-away game against Adelaide on September 18, though it concedes finals are more realistic.
Grimes has not missed a match since Round 14 last year.
Richmond physical performance manager Peter Burge said Prestia, who had to have a follow-up minor procedure on his ankle, was seeing a surgeon on Monday and his running program would progress over the next fortnight.
“The actual original injury looks really good, but unfortunately the infection caused a bit of a disruption to our rehab plans,” Burge said.
“At this stage, we’re looking potentially at the last game or probably finals, realistically.
“We’re not sure about the pre-finals bye yet, but if that does happen, it will buy us an extra week.
“With scrimmage games each week, we could look at playing him in one of those to build his match fitness, or straight back into the team.”
Burge said Grimes would be assessed ahead of next Friday’s clash with Geelong.
“It’s something that he has managed in the past,” Burge said.
“It’s an irritation of the lower part of the hamstring, on the medial side.”
David Astbury and Kane Lambert also trained away from the main group on Monday.
Astbury is continuing his recovery from a knee injury and is at least another week away from playing, while Lambert is having his load managed.
Burge said Astbury had made really good progress but the club was being careful with his comeback because he had not played since Round 4.
“There are just some more specific strength and football-related things that he still had been a bit uncomfortable with last week, that he’s a little bit better with this week – kicking being one of those,” he said.
GEELONG DEFENDER’S LUCKY BREAK AFTER BIG HIT
Geelong defender Zach Tuohy is confident he suffered only bruising to his ribs after copping a hit on Friday night that “knocked the spirit” out of him.
Tuohy endured a torrid night in his side’s come-from-behind win over the Western Bulldogs, coming from the field struggling to breathe after a crunching Jackson Macrae tackle.
The Irishman somehow returned to the field, only to cop further hits to the ribs and even a cut above the eye from an errant shoulder.
He said on Saturday he had pulled up OK despite his eventful night.
“I actually feel quite good,” Tuohy told Fox Footy.
“I have had a scan on my ribs and I expect it to show not much more than some bruising, so not too bad.”
The 27-year-old said he initial contact was the hardest hit he’d ever copped on the field.
“I tell you, that hit got me right in the soul,” he said.
“It just knocked the spirit out of me.
“My ribs are a bit tender, I’m not going to lie, but they’re not as bad as they could have been.”
“Jackson actually did say to me late in the game that it was him and apologised, which was totally uncalled for because it’s one of the parts of the game we need to protect.
“The game’s getting sanitised and rightly so because we need to look after everybody, but there needs to be an element of danger in playing the game.”
Tuohy also explained why he hurled away his mouthguard in anger after coming to the bench during the second half.
“I think that was after I came back on and had a contest I wasn’t happy with, I was a bit sore,” he said.
“It was just petulant, I was being a child.
I was just frustrated with how I was feeling and how I was playing.”
PATTON GETS POSITIVE NEWS AFTER INITIAL FEARS
Hawthorn forward Jonathon Patton has escaped serious injury and could still make a shock return this season.
While there were initial fears Patton had ruptured his achilles against Essendon on Thursday night, scans have cleared him of the serious injury.
Patton, 27, has instead torn the plantaris tendon, which runs next to the achilles tendon.
The key forward could still return this season but the Hawks will be cautious with his return given his injury history and wretched run this year.
“We are pleased for Jonny that scans have revealed no damage to his achilles,” Hawthorn football boss Graham Wright said.
“Although any injury is not ideal, this one leaves the window open for Jonny to make a recovery in time for a return to football this season.
“It’s a relief for Jonny and the club and we have no doubt he will do everything possible to get himself back on the park as quick as possible.”
The latest injury is another blow for Patton who has played just six matches since Round 15, 2018.
Patton was playing just his second game back after missing six weeks with a hamstring injury.
TIGERS CONFIDENT GRIMES INJURY ONLY MINOR
Hall of Fame defender Glen Jakovich says Noah Balta is clearly superior to Alex Rance at the same age as the young defender prepares to marshal Richmond’s backline.
The Tigers have lost Dylan Grimes for at least the Round 15 clash against Fremantle after he suffered a hamstring injury in the rampaging victory over West Coast.
Richmond was confident on Friday the injury was only minor, saying it would monitor his progress to “assess his availability after the bye”.
The Tigers have the bye in Round 16, but the club says Grimes will resume running as soon as this weekend, giving him five full weeks to recover for finals even if they are cautious with the injury.
For now Balta is the man with Rance retired and David Astbury (knee) missing from a team that has had such a stable backline for the past three seasons.
Astbury is still some time away after surgery on a knee cartilage issue that Richmond has listed as “medium-term”.
West Coast four-time club champion Jakovich is not only one of history’s best centre half-backs, he coached Victorian teen Balta during his AFL Academy season.
Jakovich told the Herald Sun he was blown away by not only Balta’s athletic attributes but the 20-year-old’s capacity to see the game unfold ahead of him.
“I had Noah through the national academy program, so I have looked at him on the way through. They have a beauty there,” he said.
“He always had a certain assertiveness about him with the way he went about the footy and it doesn’t surprise me that he has not only filled the shoes of Alex, but gee if he keeps going the way he is than his early signs are a lot better than Alex was in the early handful of games.
“Having witnessed both, he kicks it better than Alex did initially and he seems to make good decisions under pressure.
“For a big bloke he moved well and he sees the flight of the ball probably two plays before. He knows where it’s going to be.
“I remember from working with him when he was 16 or 17, you would post up and at that stage those guys didn’t have a strong core so you could push them around. Noah was like trying to move a lamp post. He could easily go on and be a 200-gamer.”
Richmond captain Trent Cotchin said Balta was already on the “veterans” weight routine as he tried to keep weight off rather than put it back on.
Compared to Rance after 23 matches he has recorded an average of 3.8 intercept possessions to Rance’s 2.2 and 1.4 intercept marks to Rance’s 0.3.
Five-time All Australian Rance clearly took time to develop but Balta’s defensive attributes are off the charts.
Against West Coast although his opponent Jack Darling kicked three goals, Balta amassed 11 intercept possessions and five intercept marks, then kicked the booming 60m goal that sealed the game.
Grimes’ career was at one stage threatened by hamstring injuries but he has missed only two games in the past three years after hamstring tendon surgery and a trip to Germany to get treatment on his lower back.
Grimes went off in the second term of the clash against West Coast in a massive blow to the Tigers one month out from finals.
The intercepting defender, who is one of Richmond’s most important players, didn’t come back on in the second half.
A standard hamstring will cost Grimes 3-4 weeks on the sidelines and Richmond is likely to be extra cautious considering Grimes has a history of hamstring issues earlier in his career.
Coach Damien Hardwick’s initial belief was that the injury was “on the minor end of the scale”.
“Dyl’s had some history, so we’ve got to be mindful,” he said post-game.
“He’s such an important player for us and one of the best defenders in the AFL, so we’ve got to make sure he’s right for when the whips are cracking.”
A pre-finals bye would also help give Grimes an extra week’s rest before the finals campaign kicks off in the first weekend of October.
The last round of the home-and-away season is scheduled for September 18-20.
West Coast also lost gun forward Josh Kennedy to a concussion early in their clash at Metricon Stadium.
Richmond gun midfielder Dion Prestia has also missed the back half of the season with an ankle injury and is about 2-3 weeks away from a return.
Star backman David Astbury is out with a knee injury.
Midfielder Shane Edwards is set to catch a September 1 flight up to Queensland after staying in Melbourne for the birth of his child.
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Originally published as AFL Round 14 injury news: Get the latest on who is hurt at your club