We bring you the latest on the injury front with Head of Physiotherapy and Medical Services with Damian Raper. He provides an update on Callum Mills, Josh Kennedy, Will Hayward and some of our other stars as the playing squad recover throughout the off-season
Post-season recovery update
All the players have exited the program and returned back to their home states. The players will have roughly four weeks where they can do some unstructured activity, and then from there, they will be starting their off-season training program.
That will be a progressive running and weights program. We're expecting the younger playing group to return to training on 22 November, and then some of our senior players will return early in December.
Callum Mills
Callum was seen by a specialist down in Melbourne and had some really reassuring signs. We're just expecting him to rehab his achilles tendon over the off-season and hopefully not have any issues coming into the next pre-season.
Josh Kennedy
Obviously, Josh missed the Elimination Final with his hamstring strain. We have since caught up with him and he has now fully recovered, and we're expecting him to have a normal off-season program.
Will Hayward
Will played some games throughout the backend of the year with some left AC joint pain. He had very minor arthroscopic surgery just to clean out the joint. He will be back to a normal off-season program after four weeks' worth of rehabilitation.
Nick Blakey
Nick had surgery as a result of the ankle injury he sustained against North Melbourne. Nick is going well in his recovery - he is walking on the ankle, he's got a good range of motion, and has started some strength-based work in the gym. He will start running at about six weeks following his operation.
Hayden McLean
Hayden sprained his medial ligament in his knee in the Elimination Final. He spent about two weeks in a brace and he has now commenced his rehabilitation. We're expecting roughly a 6-8 week rehab for him until he returns to a normal off-season program.
Logan McDonald
The good news for Logan is that he has fully recovered from his cheekbone fracture. We're not expecting any further issues for him.
Sam Naismith
Sam is set to undergo the second phase of his ACL reconstruction. We're expecting that to be a hamstring reconstruction for Sam, after which he will then re-commence his rehabilitation process.
