After suffering a dislocated shoulder during Saturday’s game against Fremantle, surgery looms as the most likely scenario for Pearce Hanley.
General Manager – Football Operations, Jon Haines, told the Alpha
“Pearce has had a scan – he’s gone back to the Gold Coast and we’ve met this morning with the medical team as well and had some further discussion around the results of the scan.
“It’s not a great result for Pearce, but in that context, we’ll be meeting with the surgeon in the next few days to assess our options.
“But surgery is looking as the likely option at this point in time.”
As one of the leaders of the club, Hanley will still be heavily involved in the football program while he completes his rehab.
With a keen awareness of the game, he may find himself lending a hand to SUNS coaching staff.
“Pearce has probably got one of the best ‘feel for the game’ out of the whole playing group, so he’s got a real interest in what’s happening from a coaching perspective.
“I’m sure once he’s through that surgical period and once he actually enters into his rehab, we’ll certainly be tapping into his knowledge of the game,
“And certainly we’re expecting him, as a member of the leadership group, to play an integral role for the rest of the team throughout the course of the year.”
Saturday’s NEAFL victory against Aspley also had a casualty, with ruckman Tom Nicholls hurting his shoulder and likely to require surgery.
“Tom had some instability in his shoulder on the weekend, so again a similar process as to what we undertook with Pearce.”
“We had a scan and we’ll be meeting with a surgeon later this week to assess his options as well.
“It seems like a reasonably serious issue at this point in time but until we get all the details, we’ll make a decision based on that and then move from there.”
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