By Michael Whiting
Gold Coast SUNS midfielder David Swallow is still up to a month away from returning to action as he continues to battle a knee injury.
The 19-year-old strained his posterior cruciate ligament in the SUNS round seven loss against GWS having struggled with injury the previous three weeks.
He played with hip pain against North Melbourne in round five and hurt his ankle against Fremantle in round six, before succumbing to the knee injury.
It was hoped the former No.1 draft pick might return against West Coast in round 14, but football operations manager Marcus Ashcroft said he was a little way off yet.
"He's just started to move around and do a bit of running and strengthening work," Ashcroft said.
"When he first did it, it was always around the eight-10 week call, so he's still on track. I think everyone thought we had the bye mid year and he'd be right after that, but it's still a similar timeframe to what was initially diagnosed."
Swallow has missed five weeks to date, which means he may return somewhere between rounds 15 and 17.
While fellow teenage midfielder Dion Prestia is also likely to miss the match against the Eagles with a hamstring injury, there is some good news for the injury-hit Suns.
Small defender Jarrod Harbrow is meeting with his surgeon on Friday hopeful of getting the all-clear to return to action after 10 weeks on the sidelines with a fractured elbow.
Ashcroft said the former Western Bulldog had kept himself in good shape during the lay-off.
"He was able to run and keep his body conditioned, it's more the strength in his arm and contact on his arm once you get into a match simulated scenario, so that's been the concern with him," Ashcroft said.
"The last week he's been integrating with training but we've still been mindful of contact with his elbow so we haven't done too much, we're more waiting for the surgeon's OK on Friday.
"If he gets the all-clear he's available for selection and it's a match committee call on whether he plays seniors or reserves."
The SUNS are even more desperate to get Harbrow back following Monday's news that young defender Seb Tape requires a right knee reconstruction.
It continued a horror year of injuries for the SUNS, with key players Harbrow, Swallow and Nathan Bock (broken leg) spending significant time on the sidelines, along with young talent Prestia, Tom Lynch, Charlie Dixon and now Tape.
Ruckman Dan Gorringe had surgery on his achilles at the weekend and will remain out indefinitely.
"I guess we've had some bad luck," Ashcroft said.
"It's not ideal, but in saying that it's giving some great opportunities for other guys to come in. Sometimes you get bad luck and all you can do is get them treated as best you can and get them back out there as fast as we can."
