Colac co-captain Adam Garner is facing at least a fortnight on the sidelines after suffering a concussion late in Sunday’s narrow loss to Leopold.
The big man had kicked five goals before being forced from Memorial Park during the final quarter.
Garner will miss home match-ups with South Barwon and St Albans leading into the Tigers’ bye, with co-coach Jason Armistead confident he will return for the meeting against North Shore on May 23.
“He had some headaches and stuff the night of (the game) and the next morning, and had a couple of days off work,” co-coach Jason Armistead said.
“He’s a lot better now. He’ll miss the next couple, and then we’ve got the bye after that.
“I don’t think he’s had any other issues in the past.
“He was back in form on the weekend with five goals, so that was a pleasing part of it.”
The experienced Darcy Lang suffered a fracture cheekbone. However, he was unlikely to play again until June due to work commitments with Geelong Grammar.
Veteran Jarryn McCormack came from the ground with a hamstring issue; however, scans have come back positive, and he is a chance to take on South.
“He’s never had one before; he may have just had a cramp or a spasm or something and just wanted to be conservative,” Armistead said.
“Losing him at half-time, he was probably one of the best players on the ground up until then.
“We’ve just got to find a few replacements for some good players.”
Those replacements could include big man Zach Zdybel, who is sharing the captaincy with Garner, and former Geelong West star Ethan Liddle.
Both have missed the opening three rounds, but only need to get through training on Thursday to be selected.
“Last week, they potentially could have played, but the physios and medicos wanted both of them to have an extra week of training so that they hopefully don’t have any recurrence,” Armistead said.
However, co-coach Seb Ross is facing another week on the sidelines with a calf injury suffered in the warm-up ahead of the Round 1 meeting with St Mary’s.
“Get him back for St Albans and then into the bye, and then he can load a little bit more over that break, Armistead said.
“Hopefully, he’ll be right for the middle part (of the season)
After losses to the Saints and Leopold, either side of a scrappy win over Geelong West, Armistead is aware of the importance of not slipping too far behind the win-loss ledger.
“I think the comp’s going to be pretty even this year,” he said.
“If you just get things right at the right time, you can get on a roll.
“As long as we don’t go too much into (win-loss) deficit.
“We definitely improved on the weekend with a few parts of our game. We feel like we’re getting a few things right.
“It’s just a matter of getting some wins in the W column.”
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