Head of Physiotherapy and Medical Services Damian Raper provides the latest injury news on the squad with updates on Lance Franklin, Tom Papley, Robbie Fox, Colin O’Riordan, Sam Naismith and Lachlan McAndrew.

General Overview

A couple of close wins for both the AFL and the VFL over the weekend.

In the AFL, we had a couple of knocks to both Peter Ladhams and Paddy McCartin and both players were assessed for concussion, given that they were contact injuries to the head, but both players were cleared to return to play after sustaining no concussive symptoms at all in those knocks which was good to see.

Within the VFL, it was unfortunate that Lachlan McAndrew sustained a low grade hamstring strain so he will miss the next few weeks.

Lance Franklin

Unfortunately Lance Franklin suffered a finger injury at the end of the third quarter and was subbed out of the game. He was seen by a specialist on Monday afternoon and had surgery. At this point, we expect him to return to play in 2-3 weeks.

Tom Papley

Tom Papley is progressing well with his rehabilitation from his hamstring strain. It has been six weeks now and he is back in training. It’s now a matter of getting him to a point of reconditioning before we look at him returning to AFL football.

Robbie Fox

Robbie Fox is also going well with his recovery to his hamstring strain that he sustained in the VFL three weeks ago. He has commenced running but has not returned to training at the moment.

Colin O’Riordan

Colin O’Riordan has been seen be a specialist for his eye poke and he is going to commence training, but won’t be doing any contact work, so he won’t be available this week.

Sam Naismith

In positive news, Sam Naismith has commenced running this week and that was really good to see. He had his first run on Monday and all the playing group put on a guard of honour for his first run which was fantastic for Sam. He has worked really hard with his ACL rehab and it’s great to see him getting the rewards with his first run.