Gold Coast SUNS captain Gary Ablett will return to face the West Coast Eagles on Sunday at Domain Stadium after missing his side's round nine clash with concussion.
Fellow midfielder Aaron Hall should be passed fit to play after recovering well from a minor shoulder injury.
“Gaz is back, which is great. He pulled up really well Monday (and) is training today. Looks likely he’ll be fine and fit to train again Thursday ready for Sunday’s game,” GM – Football Operations, Marcus Ashcroft told the Optomo Injury Report.
“He (Hall) hurt his shoulder last weekend and again pulled up really well on Monday. He’s training again today and will look likely to train Thursday ready for the weekend’s game.”
Rookie Darcy Macpherson will be out of action for an extended period, with scans confirming the 18-year-old has sustained a medial ligament injury to his right knee.
While the SUNS will get some troops back this week, including their skipper, there are at least four players from the round nine clash that won’t line up for Sunday’s game against the Eagles, including the dynamic Macpherson; who will be eyeing a return to the playing field later this season.
“Unfortunate for Darcy, he hurt his medial ligament,” Ashcroft said.
“The scans suggest it’s not a minor one but not a major one, somewhere in the middle.”
After cementing himself as the club’s number one ruckman, Dan Currie will not play football until round 12 at the earliest with a fractured finger sidelining the former Kangaroo for 2-4 weeks.
Currie played well against Adelaide ruckman Sam Jacobs and will undergo finger surgery on Wednesday.
“The scans indicated today he’s got a fracture in his finger, which is unfortunate for Dan,” Ashcroft said.
“Played some really good minutes on the weekend so for him he’ll get surgery tomorrow.”
Forward Jarrad Grant will miss the trip west with a minor hamstring injury, as will Callum Ah Chee; with Gold Coast to take a no risk approach with their top draft selection from 2016, who will miss due to concussion.
“We’ve had three concussions in the last two weeks so unfortunately for Cal he looks likely to miss,” Ashcroft said.
“He’ll have his final concussion protocol done Thursday at training but at this stage he’s looking more unlikely.”
