All the injuries from a jam-packed AFL footy frenzy
The troublesome hamstring injuries that continue to plague Collingwood midfield jet Adam Treloar have been exacerbated by the condensed AFL schedule, the Pies vowing to be conservative with their oft-injured star.
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Collingwood star Adam Treloar’s recovery from a third soft-tissue tear of the season will be challenged by the league’s second compressed fixture.
It comes as Will Hoskin-Elliott was cleared of structural damage to his knee but will miss at least one game with bone bruising.
Despite Josh Daicos’ amazing goal against Sydney, the output of the Pies’ 2018 Fab Four medium-sized forwards has evaporated in a symptom of the Pies’ goal-kicking woes.
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In the remarkable 2018 Grand Final run the four mid-sized forwards provided a remarkable combination that saw all of them score 38 or more goals in the season.
Jordan De Goey led Collingwood’s goal scorers with 48 goals, followed by Will Hoskin-Elliott (42), Jaidyn Stephenson and Josh Thomas (both 38).
So far after 10 games this year they have 22 goals between them given form and fitness.
De Goey has seven goals, Stephenson eight, Hoskin-Elliott seven and Thomas none in four AFL games as Josh Daicos and Cal Brown have combined for 11 goals.
Treloar will likely miss a month given it is his second hamstring of the season, with Pies footy boss Geoff Walsh saying it was a recurrence of his March hamstring strain.
The in-form Pies midfielder also missed six weeks with a calf injury out of the lockdown, with Walsh declaring: “Because it is around the same site, we will treat it conservatively. It could be up to a month until we see Adam resuming.”
Coach Nathan Buckley joked he might miss 12 games given the league’s compressed schedule but in truth the league’s plans will not help his recovery.
As revealed by the Herald Sun, the AFL wants to compress its Rounds 14-16 schedule into a tight timeframe before conventional Rounds 17-18.
It means Treloar will have to find a way to ease back into football in a compressed schedule that sees him fit for finals even if he has to be managed for the rest of the home-and-away season.
Buckley said the short turnaround from Sunday’s loss to Fremantle played a part in Treloar’s latest hamstring problem. Treloar had surgery on his hamstrings in 2018 and injured them again in the preseason this year before a calf problem.
Collingwood will have to assess the recovery of Isaac Quaynor, who had his shin split open in a horror cut that will take weeks to fully heal given the risk of infection and reinjury.
But Quaynor was up walking yesterday without the aid of crutches after a night in Brisbane hospital.
Walsh said the Pies would need to ensure he kept the wound clean of infection but he may only miss one or two games if he heals quickly.
Scott Pendlebury will start kicking again next week after a recovery from a quad injury, while Levi Greenwood (knee) and Tom Langdon (knee) got through a scrimmage on Thursday morning.
Scans cleared Hoskin-Elliott of structural damage and the Pies hope he might only miss the upcoming game against Adelaide on Tuesday.
Buckley, who has already had to find replacements for superstar Scott Pendlebury, Jordan De Goey and Jeremy Howe, said the Pies had the cattle to cover the latest injuries amid the extraordinary physical demands of the compressed fixture.
“Our challenge is to be as positive as we possibly can be and to keep looking for our best,” Buckley said.
“Whatever the twists and turns in front of us are, we are more than confident we have the group and the connection that can put our best foot forward as we go ahead.”
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Daicos’ brilliance helped save the inaccurate Pies against Sydney as Collingwood sit at five wins and a draw from 10 games.
Collingwood is ranked second in the AFL for defence behind Port Adelaide but only 15th for scoring and 17th for scores inside 50 (19 per cent).
Some of those statistics relate to ball movement but the Pies are also 14th for accuracy at goal (44.8 per cent), thanks to performances like the six goal, 14-behind contest against Sydney.
FRANKLIN RETURN UNCLEAR
- Jon Ralph
Sydney is still no closer to deciding on a return date for Lance Franklin as he prepares to fly to Perth with his teammates on Friday.
Franklin was spotted outside the Brisbane Broncos training facility on Thursday as he continues to rehabilitate a serious hamstring injury that has seen him out for 10 weeks.
The Swans said on Thursday Franklin was receiving treatment at the Qscan medical imaging and radiology centre that is a separate business next to the Broncos facility.
AFL players are allowed to access medical treatment while in hubs, with Sydney staying at a Brisbane hotel and allowed to take walks outside to get fresh air.
The Swans take on Collingwood tonight in Brisbane at the Gabba at 5.40pm then fly to Perth on Friday.
They have a bye next round before taking on GWS next Thursday in Perth while also in quarantining in West Australia.
They will play Fremantle the following round, having already played West Coast earlier in the season.
It is then expected they will return to a Queensland hub to finish the rest of the home-and-away season.
The Swans are still hopeful Franklin will play a role this season despite their struggles, having won only three games this season.
Last year he returned for the final game of the season to kick four goals in his 300th AFL game.
BOMBERS MAINTAIN HOPE ON DANIHER RETURN
— Rebecca Williams and Lauren Wood
Essendon coach John Worsfold has not given up hope of Joe Daniher returning to play this season as the key forward prepares to step up his training this week.
Daniher will take another step forward on his path to a long-awaited comeback when he joins in “more full training” with his Bombers’ teammates.
While Worsfold conceded he could not make any guarantees about whether Daniher would play this season, he said the club continued to prepare the goalkicker with the view to him making a return in 2020.
“We are working really hard with Joey, we’re excited about the way he is moving,” Worsfold said on Wednesday.
“We were really disappointed when he got that little calf strain, but he has started to come through that and he’ll be joining in more full training this week, which we are really pleased to see.
“Once he joins in full training I would expect he would need a couple of weeks of full training before we consider any next steps and that would depend on whether he progresses and finishes a full load of training and how he pulls up from those.”
Daniher has not played for the Bombers since Round 9 against Fremantle last year after a battle with groin and calf injuries.
Asked if time was running out for Daniher to get back, Worsfold said the club was pressing ahead in the hope he could return to the field.
“Our aim is to prepare Joe to overcome these issues he’s had to get him back playing footy and that’s been our focus all along,” Worsfold said.
The Bombers are hoping to welcome Cale Hooker and Orazio Fantasia back from calf injuries in the next fortnight.
Hooker and Fantasia have not played since Round 7 but Bombers medical boss David Rundle said the pair were “doing very well” despite varying issues.
“While they both do have calf strains, their pathologies are somewhat different, so they’re being managed differently,” he said.
“They’ve both commenced running and they’ll need to build their running loads over the next week or so before joining the main group.”
Skipper Dyson Heppell – who fractured his ankle six weeks ago – continues in his recovery but faces up to another month before he resumes full training, while forward Jake Stringer has joined his teammates in the team’s Queensland hub after his syndesmosis injury.
“Jake has joined us in the hub now and he’s come in really good shape,” Rundle said.
“It’s been four weeks since his syndesmosis injury.
“His ankle range is excellent, and his strength is good but it’s not quite at the level of where we would like it to be before we start running him, but that should be not be too far off.”
Jayden Laverde, who also suffered a syndesmosis injury against Adelaide in Round 8, had surgery in Brisbane last week and will be in a moon boot for another 10 days.
While he has started some mobility work, Rundle said he would be sidelined for up to another seven weeks.
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