Lance Franklin returns to track as he begins comeback from serious hamstring injury
It was a small step but Lance Franklin has begun his comeback from a serious hamstring injury. Meanwhile, Swans chief executive Tom Harley has responded to fears that Buddy won’t play out his contract.
Essendon
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Lance Franklin has begun the first tentative steps in his comeback from a serious hamstring injury with Sydney chief executive Tom Harley saying the champion forward can still play a meaningful role in the back end of the 2020 season.
Harley is also “absolutely” confident 32-year-old Franklin can strongly play out at least the remaining two years of his much-talked nine-year contract.
Franklin returned to Swans training late last week and has commenced running on the Alter G machine with his eyes set on a return in the second half of the season.
“He started running … he clearly didn’t do much, but his rehab is tracking OK,” Harley told the News Corp Australia.
“It was a conservative 10-week call when he did his hamstring (in late May) and he had a minor procedure which was not related to fast track things.”
When Franklin last month suffered a second serious hamstring injury in the past 12 months, some expressed doubt that he will see out the full term of his contract, which expires at the end of the 2022 season.
Harley said he “fully expected” Franklin – who is only 56 goals short of 1000 – to play on for at least the next two seasons, and possibly even longer.
“He has had a rough trot in the last couple of years, (but) he can play out the back half of this year and then play out the remaining two (years) at least,” he said.
“I know the pressure he would put on himself because he is a competitive beast. ”
Bulldogs star hit for six
Sam Landsberger
The Western Bulldogs have lost Josh Dunkley for the next six weeks after the star youngster sustained a nasty ankle injury in the final seconds of Friday night’s win against Greater Western Sydney.
Dunkley, 23, had scans which showed a syndesmosis injury.
The premiership star finished runner-up in last year’s best-and-fairest and was elevated into the leadership group this year.
The blow leaves the Bulldogs without three members of their original leadership group, with former captain Easton Wood (quad) and former vice-captain Lachie Hunter (suspended) also unavailable.
Hunter will return in Round 6 while Wood should also have recovered by then.
Dunkley has not missed a senior game since midway through 2018, when he was briefly sent to the VFL.
Dunkley ignited the Dogs’ resurgence against the Giants with a goal in the opening seconds.
The Dogs face Sydney on Thursday night.
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HEPPELL’S SEASON IN DOUBT AFTER TACKLE GONE WRONG
Jon Ralph
Essendon s only “hopeful” Dyson Heppell will be back playing football this season ahead of ankle surgery after a freak training accident.
Heppell had only returned last week from foot surgery for a long-running issue that hampered his 2019 season.
But he had his foot trapped under him in a training session ahead of the club’s clash against Melbourne on Sunday, with scans showing he needs surgery.
Heppell’s ankle injury is unrelated to the left foot issues, but with 15 weeks of home-and-away football left the club isn’t sure when he will return.
Essendon football boss Dan Richardson said the club was “hopeful” he would get back but would only have a time-line post-surgery
It will put an onus on the club’s top-10 draft picks taken to bolster the midfield, with Darcy Parish and Andy McGrath set to take on more prominent roles.
Parish showed he was capable after a 13-possession last quarter in the win over Sydney last week after playing mostly half forward early.
General manager of football Dan Richardson said 28-year-old Heppell would soon have surgery.
“Unfortunately, Dyson sustained the injury when tackled towards the end of our training session on Friday morning,” Richardson said.
“It’s an unrelated injury to his foot, but we immediately had the area scanned which identified a fracture in the left ankle.
“It’s very disappointing for both Dyson and the club. Currently, it is difficult to put a timeframe on a return prior to him having surgery, but we remain hopeful he will return to the field this season.”
The Dons had hoped they could overcome Melbourne and set up a 3-0 start to the season with Joe Daniher making encouraging progress and in fine form on the training track today.
The club is yet to set a return date for free agent Daniher, aware they cannot have another setback this year, but he continues to impress track watchers with his free movement on the training track.
Coach John Worsfold said he was impressed by Conor McKenna’s fitness since returning from Ireland as the club trials him at half forward after a career as a hard-charging defender.
“Conor’s been a wonderful half-back for us. He’s been learning his craft down there for a number of years. When we’ve trained and used him forward, he tends to find the ball and make things happen, so it’s exciting to have someone who can do that,” Worsfold said.
“At the moment, I still see him in our best back-line when he’s fit and ready to go, but we’re happy to start to look at him playing forward at times.
“Orazio Fantasia and David Zaharakis can go to half-back at periods and we can put Conor forward to have a different look if we want to change the mix of how the game looks.”
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Originally published as Lance Franklin returns to track as he begins comeback from serious hamstring injury