Scans reveal Brisbane Lions star Joe Daniher doesn’t require shoulder surgery

The accuracy of Darcy Fort could be crucial for a Brisbane Lions team preparing for a period without key forward Joe Daniher.

Darcy Fort (right) is enjoying his time in Brisbane. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Brisbane Lions star Joe Daniher has avoided surgery on the shoulder he damaged against the Sydney Swans and could be back playing in a month.

Scans on Tuesday afternoon revealed a soft tissue injury in the shoulder Daniher partially dislocated in Brisbane’s 24-point weekend win over the Swans at the SCG.

The injury will require four to six weeks of rehabilitation before Daniher can return.

“The outcome today is a fairly good one with Joe not requiring surgery on the shoulder and we can just focus on rehabilitating and getting strength back into it,” Lions football boss Danny Daly said.

“While it is disappointing for Joe to miss a few games after stringing together so many consecutively, we’re confident we have the forward line depth to cover it while he focuses on getting back on the park.”

Brisbane ruckman Darcy Fort has backed the Lions to “pick up the slack” in the absence of Daniher.

“A strength of this group is we’ve got a lot of guys who can come in and play a solid role for our team,” Fort said.

“Cam Rayner stood up (against Sydney) and played a bit more of a key forward role and had a really good day out, and Dan McStay had a great game, so as a group, if Joe does miss time, I think we can collectively pick up his slack.

“We look forward to getting him back as soon as we can because he’s a great contributor to our team.”

Daniher’s absence could also lead to Fort spending more time in the forward line.

Joe Daniher is facing time on the sidelines with a shoulder injury. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“I’m pretty comfortable these days in my forward craft,” he said.

So comfortable in fact that late bloomer Fort is yet to kick a behind in his AFL career, with his 12 straight goals being a competition record for successive six-pointers without a behind to start a career.

“It’s pretty funny,” he said of what has been dubbed a “world record”.

“It’s nice to have some reward for some straight shooting in front of goals over the past couple of years.

“I’m not sure how long it’ll last, but it’s a good reward.”

Fort, 28, has played in all of Brisbane’s seven matches this season after playing just eight in three years with Geelong before moving to Queensland.

“The coach (Chris Fagan) has put a lot of faith in me to start the season, and being able to play a consistent block of football is as helpful as anything,” he said.

The second-placed Lions’ win over Sydney was their sixth in a season that has just had the one loss.

“I’ve got a lot of faith in what this group can do when we’re playing at our best. It’s just being able to play that football for a full four quarters,” Fort said.

The Lions will start as unbackable favourites to beat the struggling West Coast Eagles – 109-point losers to Richmond last week – at the Gabba on Saturday night.

“Being complacent is a possibility, but we’ll just focus on what we do and how we play our best football. If we keep doing that. we’ll be right,” Fort said.

Originally published as Scans reveal Brisbane Lions star Joe Daniher doesn’t require shoulder surgery