St Mary’s double-chance consolidating win over Newtown & Chilwell has come at a cost, with captain Jack Blood and Mathieson medal fancy Jarryd Garner to be sidelined until close to finals.
Blood suffered a torn adductor and Garner a broken hand in Saturday’s 59-point win at Anthony Costa Oval.
Saints co-coach Luke Rayner says scans will confirm the severity of Blood’s injury.
“(It was) just a normal movement in play, and he felt a bit of a tear.
“He’ll probably have a week or so before he has scans to let it settle down so the scan fully shows the extent of the injury.
“He’s pretty sore, so we envisage a good 4-6 weeks for Jack’s recovery should that scan deliver what we think has occurred.”
Rayner is hopeful of Garner, who averages 27 disposals per game, undergoing surgery this week.
“Unfortunately for ‘Garns’, it was nearly the first contest of the day and came off worse for wear,” Rayner said.
“He’s got a fracture in the top of his hand, so that’ll require some surgery that we hope to occur ASAP.”
“It may be a 4-6 week program for ‘Garns’ in terms of recovery.”
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In better news for the Saints, star forward Sam Dobson, young gun Matt Keast, and two-time Mathieson medalist Harry Benson should return for Saturday’s blockbuster meeting with Leopold.
Dobson hasn’t played since the Round 9 win over Colac due to work commitments, while Keast has been sidelined for over a month after injuring a hamstring playing for Werribee.
Benson was a late withdrawal on the weekend due to illness.
“It takes a fair bit to stop ‘Benno’, so he was fairly under the weather, and he decided against going out against Newtown,” Rayner said.
“He should be back fit and firing this week.”
Kade Chalcraft and Kane Loftus both made successful returns from injury after lengthy layoffs.
“They were both around the 7-8 week period out of the game, so they’ll take good improvement from a fitness and touch point-of-view,” Rayner said.
“We look forward to continued improvement from those guys moving forward.”
Catch the Leopold-St Mary’s match via krockfootball.live from 1pm Saturday.
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