The Gold Coast SUNS engine room has suffered another blow with last year’s best and fairest winner David Swallow set for an extended spell on the sidelines with a posterior cruciate ligament injury.
The 22-year-old has been one of the SUNS' best performers in a difficult start to 2015, with his injury news a major setback to a side already missing captain Gary Ablett and emerging star Jaeger O’Meara.
“An MRI confirmed that he has some significant damage in that area. He has a surgeon review tomorrow which will determine the length of time that he is out, somewhere between eight and ten we think, although we don’t like to talk time line with these things,” GC SUNS rehabilitation coach Matthew Kennedy told SUNS TV on Tuesday evening.
Off-season acquisition Nick Malceski has succumbed to a lingering knee complaint that has troubled him throughout his time on the Gold Coast. It’s unclear how long he will be out for at this stage, but the 2014 All Australian defender will spend time focusing on strengthening the muscles around his knee.
“He’s had some issues with his knees for a long period of time now. It’s slowly got a little worse over the last few weeks, so we’re just going to back him right off and focus on what he needs and we think that’s probably a strength focus,” Kennedy said.
“So he’s just got some general soreness around that knee that’s he’s had difficulty with, he just needs to be rebuilt, rebooted and get going again.”
The highly touted Jack Martin was another casualty of the game in Canberra, with the lightly built forward subbed out of the game at half-time with an ankle injury.
“Jack Martin was subbed out of the game against GWS in the early stages of that game with ankle instability. He didn’t train today, he was off legs, but we’re hopeful he’ll train Thursday and be right to go for Saturday afternoon against the Lions,” Kennedy said.
On a positive note, revered leader Jarrod Harbrow is closing in on a return from the shoulder subluxation he suffered against St Kilda in round two. The dashing utility engaged in some form of contact training on Tuesday and will be put through a stringent fitness test on Thursday to determine his availability this weekend.
“Jarrod Harbrow trained today fully, he’s had a bit of an issue with his shoulder, he did some contact progression post training today and looked okay,” Kennedy said.
“We’re hopeful that he might be a chance to come up for this weeks game. He’ll need to get through training and match simulation on Thursday and the coaches will make a decision (on his availability).”
Optomo Injury Report: Round Five
Some big names have been hit by injury in the SUNS' big loss to Greater Western Sydney on the weekend.
