Drysdale is facing the prospect of being without reigning Les Ash medallist Ben Fennell until the second half of the season after suffering a broken arm in Saturday’s loss to Geelong Amateur.
The gun midfielder was forced from Mortimer Oval during the third quarter of the 26-point defeat and was due to undergo surgery today (Monday) to have a plate inserted.
“Ben was in a tackle and just braced himself,” coach Ben Carmichael said.
“He’s having surgery today, so it’s looking like he’ll probably miss the next couple of months of footy, which is disappointing for Ben and certainly disappointing for us.
“He’s going to be very hard to replace; he’s one of the best players in the competition.
“But like we always say, an opportunity arises for someone else to step up and probably get some opportunities they probably wouldn’t have got.”
Fennell joins captain Mitch McGuire, defender Luke Preece, big man Ben Henderson, and veteran Tim Delaney as important players on the sidelines for the winless Hawks.
However, Carmichael hopes Delaney will return for this week’s meeting with Ocean Grove.
Ricky Reid is also facing some time on the sidelines after suffering an ankle injury that was scanned yesterday.
“We haven’t got the results from that yet,” Carmichael said.
“But, he’ll probably miss the next three to four weeks, at a minimum.”
Despite the club’s run of bad luck, Carmichael was remaining philosophical.
“It’s a part of the game, and every side goes through it, and it’s our turn at the moment,” he said.
“We’d rather it happen at the start of the year and get some opportunities into guys – guys that wouldn’t usually get an opportunity.
“We’ll look forward to blooding a few new guys over the following weeks. But, yeah, it’ll be nice to get a good run at it.”
Although disappointed not to get the four points after leading by 14 points when debutant Jackson Payne goaled six minutes into the final term, Carmichael was heartened by the performance against an Ammos squad that will again challenge for the premiership.
“We said we wanted to take the game as deep as we could,” he said.
“In the end, their class just prevailed. They’re really experienced – they took their moments.
“But, I’m really proud of the way we’ve moved the footy at times, and we looked really dangerous.
“Ammos are going to be a quality side. They’ve just got a lot of class.”
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