Lions push for finals hit as injured Ash McGrath's season over

BRISBANE'S audacious bid for an AFL finals berth has been hit by a bombshell season-ending injury to veteran utility Ash McGrath.

BRISBANE'S audacious bid for an AFL finals berth has been hit with the bombshell that veteran utility Ash McGrath is set to miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.

McGrath suffered the injury in Brisbane's win over Melbourne last Sunday when he was forced to leave the field in the third quarter.

The 29-year-old has been starring in the Lions forward line during the past month when the club put together three wins from four outings to move within one game of the top eight.

Brisbane's medicos are still working through the full extent of the damage and possible treatment plans but coach Michael Voss said the club was preparing for the worst ahead of tomorrow night's showdown with Sydney at the SCG.

"At the moment it's fairly likely that Ash will be missing for the rest of the year," Voss said.

"It is tendon related. When it becomes tendon related, it becomes a bit more significant.

"We are waiting to find out which way to go with it, whether we go the surgical option or just let it rest. That's to be confirmed.

"But it's obviously disappointing because we were hoping it would be on the minor end of the scale.

"We were looking fairly dangerous in the forward line with Ash up there but this gives somebody an opportunity to come in and step up."

The McGrath injury is compounded by news of young gun defender Mitch Golby being sidelined for a month with a stress fracture in his foot.

Scans this week revealed the early stages of a stress fracture forcing Golby, an AFL Rising Star nominee, out of action for the next four weeks.

Defender Matt Maguire was last week ruled out for four to six weeks with an elbow injury to put further pressure on Brisbane's depth.

McGrath, Golby and utility Jared Polec (foot, one week) are the omissions from the side that thrashed the Demons, with Patrick Karnezis, Jack Crisp and Cheynee Stiller coming into the squad for the clash with the Swans. It will be Stiller's 100th senior game in the AFL after being stranded on 99 for most of the 2012 season.

Voss said Karnezis would take on McGrath's role in the Brisbane forward line.

He said the loss of Golby would put some strain on the already stretched backline stocks but was confident the defensive unit would cope.

"Mitch has had a very good year and we hope it's only a short time on the sidelines for him. Our defence has been fairly adaptable for most of the year," Voss said.

Meanwhile, Gold Coast have recalled the star trio of Michael Rischitelli, Campbell Brown and Jarrod Harbrow from injury for Sunday's clash with reigning premiers Geelong at Metricon Stadium.