Gold Coast star Harley Bennell is a chance to return to football via the NEAFL this weekend, but will need to complete Wednesday’s main training session before taking to the playing field, according to high performance manager Stephen Schwerdt. 

A troublesome calf injury has conspired against the exciting playmaker getting on the paddock for the first five rounds, but after an extensive rehabilitation program, the West Australian appears ready to make his comeback through the second-tier competition.

“Harley has been out of action for a while with his calf, and we have been a bit conservative with him given he has had some soft tissue injuries in the past 18 months,” Schwerdt said.

“But all things considered, if he gets through training we are confident he will be available to play this weekend.”

After failing his final concussion test on Friday, Karmichael Hunt was ruled out of the NEAFL side’s travelling party.  The hard-hitting utility is expected to begin his push back into senior contention this coming weekend when the GC SUNS reserves take on the UWS Giants on Saturday.

“We had a training run on Friday before the boys went to Sydney and we decided he (Karmichael) wasn’t right with concussion, so we took the conservative route with him also,” Schwerdt said.

“We think he will be good to go this week.”

Given the six-day turnaround and the added travel of flying to Sydney, the club’s medical staff opted to manage Nathan Bock last weekend, but the Gold Coast vice-captain is also expected to reclaim his place at full forward in the round six curtain-raiser.

“We decided given he played a full game the week before, and the trip to Sydney, it was in Nathan’s best interests to manage him.

“We’ll see how he goes with training this week but we are hopeful he will be available this week.”

Meantime, developing midfielder Alex Sexton is back in full training and is expected to return to NEAFL action after nursing a lingering calf injury.