NICK Malceski is one important step closer to making his return to AFL football, joining his teammates, including fellow knee LARS patient Campbell Heath, in full training today on the SCG.
It is only eight weeks since Malceski ruptured the ACL in his right knee, and Swans physiotherapist Matt Cameron said the dashing defender had recovered well from his second LARS procedure.
“He is moving really well, he’s reasonably fit and we just move forward now and get a few training weeks into him,” Cameron said.
Just days after surgery, Malceski was up on his feet and fulfilling a TeamSWANS junior club visit. His progress has been rapid since then, starting with time on the exercise bike and progressing to running and agility work.
Cameron has listed Malceski as being 2-3 weeks away from playing again.
He is a only a couple of weeks behind Heath, who is in line to make his comeback in the reserves in the coming weeks.
“Campbell’s now in full training and has been for a couple of weeks and we’re just going to make a decision later this week on when we play him depending on how his body is coping,’’ Cameron said.
However there was also disappointing news on the injury front for the Swans today.
Cameron said Gary Rohan is set to miss at least six weeks, and possibly an indefinite period, with cartilage damage in his right knee. Cameron said the medical team was keen for Rohan to avoid arthroscopic surgery, and wanted to give his knee time to heal naturally.
“Unfortunately last week during training Gary just had a minor mishap jumping and he actually sustained some damage to the back of his knee cap, to the cartilage, and he’s got a cartilage flap there,” Cameron explained.
“For his long term knee health we need to give it every chance to heal, so we’re going to take him off running and we will monitor him with regular scanning to assess the amount of healing going on.
“We’re hoping around the six week mark his cartilage will be looking good and (he will be) ready to return. We’re trying to avoid an arthroscope and intervening in that way, so if it needs to take longer, we may need to take longer,” he said.
Heath Grundy, a late withdrawal from the side on Friday night against the Blues, has recovered from illness and will be available for this Saturday's match against the Western Bulldogs in Canberra.
Yesterday it was also confirmed that Kieren Jack will miss 4 to 6 weeks with an ankle injury.
