GC SUNS Head Physiotherapist Lindsay Bull has an update on several players in this week’s Qscan Injury Update ahead of Saturday’s season opener at Heritage Bank Stadium.

Small forward Malcom Rosas Jnr will be a test for Saturday’s Opening Round match against Richmond after missing the AAMI Community Series outing against the GWS Giants. 

“He’s been tracking pretty well after reporting a bit of tightness in his quad after the Brisbane game. He’ll progress through training this week and we’ll test his availability for this weekend,” Bull said. 

Academy duo and 2023 first-round draft picks Jake Rogers and Jed Walter will both be unavailable for the opening rounds as they continue to recover from back and collarbone injuries respectively.

“Jed has had an operation and is due to have some repeat imaging on that in the next couple of weeks. The results of that will determine his return to play but we expect that to be in a few weeks’ time.

“Unfortunately for Jake, he had stress fractures in his back so he needed quite a significant period of deloading. 

“He’s been running now for the past eight weeks and trained fully for the last couple. He just needs a little block of pre-season training before he’s available for selection – hopefully that’s in a couple of weeks’ time.”

Young midfielder Alex Davies will also be sidelined for the opening rounds of the season with a hamstring complaint.

 “Al will be a couple of weeks before he returns to play. He’s hitting all his markers and he’ll be progressing through training as well,” Bull continued.

SUNS fans will also be buoyed by news that experienced defender Lachie Weller is progressing in his rehabilitation from an ACL injury suffered last season.

“He’s hitting all the markers he should be at the moment and he’s still pencilled for a return at the backend of the season.”

Click here for the full injury list.