In a major boost for the Gold Coast SUNS and AFL fans across the country, boom teenager Jack Martin completed his first block of training today, nearly a month after injuring his left AC joint in what was a forgettable debut match for the exciting youngster.
After being limited to lower-body strength work for the past two weeks, Martin was given the green light from club medical staff to begin a more intensive training program on Tuesday.
While the rest of his teammates began preparations for their Saturday night prime-time showdown against Hawthorn, the gun midfield talent was sweating it out boundary-side on the exercise bike.
High Performance Manager, Stephen Schwerdt, told goldcoastfc.com.au Martin’s added presence at the club’s skills session provided a spark around the main training group.
“Jack is a really popular guy to have around the club,” Schwerdt said.
“He has a bit of effervescence about him, so he was back to doing some training on the bike and hopefully we will get him back into training the next couple of weeks, but today was a good sign.”
Charlie Dixon, who sustained an adductor injury after the side’s round two match against Fremantle in Perth, is still at least two weeks away from being available for senior selection according to the club’s sports science guru.
“Charlie has had some groin problems for the last six to seven weeks which we had been managing but it came to a point where it was becoming a bit hard to perform on weekends so we decided to give him a spell and get it right,” he said.
“We expect it will be a couple of weeks before he is right to play again.
“We’re looking at it from a longer-term view so he doesn’t have any more problems during the season.”
In better news, Jesse Lonergan’s hand injury isn’t expected to restrict the bulky midfielder from maintaining his elite conditioning base, with the Tasmanian already put through a series of testing running patterns.
“We had some good news with Jesse. He had surgery last week and we think his return will be a bit quicker than initially anticipated,” Schwerdt said.
“He has done some running and he’ll get back into some footy work next week, so we might see him back a bit sooner than we first thought.”
GC SUNS Round 4 Player Availability
Bennell – Calf – 2 weeks
Boston – Ankle – indefinite
Lonergan – Hand - 2-3 weeks
Tape - Hamstring -1-2weeks
Leslie - Conditioning- 1-2 weeks
Gorringe - Achilles-1 week
Martin – Shoulder - indefinite
Smith - Knee – indefinite
Dixon – Adductor – 2-3 weeks
