He has had to wait a full year, but the stage is set for Zac Smith to make his long-awaited return to AFL football in Sunday’s clash with St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.
The Gold Coast ruckman has been named in an extended squad to take on the Saints, but General Manager - Football Operations, Marcus Ashcroft, confirmed exclusively to goldcoastfc.com.au that Smith will play this weekend.
It has been a long road back for the central Queenslander, who was forced to undergo an arduous 12-month rehabilitation program following a season-ending knee injury after he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in the SUNS’ round eight win over Western Bulldogs last year.
Although he showed significant progress during pre-season training, Smith was placed on the long-term injury list at the start of the 2014 campaign, in a bid to allow him to complete additional conditioning sessions to give him the best chance of playing senior football this season.
On Sunday, Smith declared himself “fit, strong and ready to play”, and Ashcroft is confident the returning ruckman has done enough to warrant a senior comeback.
“The view of our medical team was to always give him twelve months, and this Sunday will have been twelve months to the day,” Ashcroft said.
“The way he has progressed through his rehab, he could have played 6-8 weeks ago, so we’re extremely confident the conditioning work he has completed will give him every opportunity to make a strong return to senior football.”
In other team news, Kade Kolodjashnij will be rested this week after the first-year gun suffered minor knee soreness in the side’s 43-point victory over North Melbourne in round seven.
“He did a bit of training this week, but we always wanted to monitor Kade’s load this year,” Ashcroft said.
“We’ve decided to err on the side of caution which hopefully gives him a chance to get back fit and healthy for next week.
“He has been playing good footy and we don’t want to put him at jeopardy by playing him this weekend.”
Timmy Sumner, Alex Sexton, Tom Murphy and Matthew Warnock have been named on an extended interchange, and all remain a chance of breaking in to the winning senior side.
goldcoastfc.com.au will confirm the round nine line-up once the team has been finalised with the AFL at 5pm on Friday.
ROUND 9 AFL Premiership Senior Team
B: J. Harbrow, S. May, G. Broughton
HB: S. Lemmens, R. Thompson, T. McKenzie
C: M. Shaw, G. Ablett, M. Rischitelli
HF: A. Hall, T. Lynch, D. Stanley
F: H. Bennell, S. Day, B. Matera
R: C. Dixon, J. O’Meara, D. Swallow
INT: Z. Smith, T. Sumner, A. Sexton, L. Russell, D. Prestia, M. Warnock, T. Murphy
In: Smith, Sexton, Sumner, Murphy, Warnock
Out: Nicholls (knee), Kolodjashnij (knee)
