EFNL 2024: Noble Park provides update on Kyle Martin’s return
Noble Park coach Steve Hughes has provided an update on a time frame for Kyle Martin’s return, after the nine-time club champion missed the 2023 season with a knee injury.
Eastern
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NOBLE Park champion Kyle Martin is edging closer to a return – but senior coach Steve Hughes has declared the nine-time best-and-fairest would not be rushed.
Martin missed the 2023 season after suffering an ACL injury just days out from the opening round.
Hughes said the premiership captain was tracking well ahead of the 2024 campaign but would likely miss the first two months of the season.
“I think the rough, approximate aim is round eight or nine,” Hughes said.
“We get updated by our physio every two or three weeks, it’s more sophisticated than it used to be with ACLs.
“He’s doing some running now and that was ticked off a couple of weeks ago, proper straight-line running.
“There’s no way we’ll rush him – we’ll be looking after him … if it’s Round 12, so be it, if it’s Round 6, terrific.”
Hughes said Martin had been a “huge asset” off the field in his long lay-off.
“He adds a lot to our coaching,” he said.
“He’s obviously my assistant, so he takes a fair share of the training at the moment which is good for his own coaching development … he’s in a good space.
“He’s very intuitive, he’s a clever boy with the stoppage stuff and interprets things quicker than most do – he’s a weapon for us in the box as well.”
Martin was set to co-captain the club last year alongside Jackson Sketcher, who is said to be “flying” this pre-season.
Reinventing his game as an inside midfielder in Martin’s absence, Sketcher won the Eastern’s league’s top individual honour last year, the Sir Gilbert Chandler Medal, as the Premier Division’s best and fairest.
“In a lot of the match-simulation stuff at the moment he’s obviously the standout like he normally is,” Hughes said.
“I think he’s in for another good year.”
Noble Park opens its season away to Doncaster East on Saturday, April 13.
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