Newtown & Chilwell will be without gun recruit Taj McMillan until the second half of the season after breaking his collarbone in Saturday’s win over Leopold at Memorial Park.
McMillan, who suffered the injury in a collision with a teammate, is likely to undergo surgery, which will potentially sideline him until after the league bye in early July.
He’s averaged 22.8 disposals and five clearances since arriving from North Ballarat.
“We’ve been really happy with what he’s brought to our team,” Towners coach Steve Johnson said
“We’ve been playing him across multiple positions, but he has added some real speed through our midfield, which we identified was an area we needed to improve on off the back of 2025.”
The undefeated Eagles will also be without high-flying forward Jedd Coburn and young gun Alfie Wojcinski for this week’s Zoe Kennedy Foundation match against Bell Park at Hi Sushi Oval.
Coburn is battling a minor hamstring issue, while Wojcinski requires surgery on a hand injury suffered at work on Tuesday.
Johnson says several players are pushing their case in the club’s reserves.
“The likes of Charlie Field, Tom Beckworth, Rory Diamond, Tom Kiddle, and Noah Norris have all been in pretty good form in our development team.”
Newtown & Chilwell is 5-0 for the first time since 2023, when they won their opening seven games.
However, Johnsin is well aware that the Dragons at Hamlyn Park are never an easy proposition.
“You’ve got to prepare for every opposition at their best, and their best is absolute quality,” he said.
“I know that they’re missing a few players, too; that evens it out
“It should be a really good contest on their home deck for the Zoe Kennedy match, which hopefully gets plenty of support.”
Meanwhile, St Mary’s gun Jarryd Garner is facing at least a month on the sidelines after suffering a serious hamstring injury in Saturday night’s win over St Joseph’s at Anthony Costa Oval.
“I was just running at full pace and looking for a handball receive – it was just slightly in front of me, and I just overstretched,” Garner said.
At age 33, Garner won’t be rushing his return as he looks to be part of a push for another Saints premiership in the second half of the season.
“Although I’d like to get back in four, it’s probably likely to be more like five to six,” he said.
“It is frustrating, but it’ll be good to sit back and watch everyone else go to work.
“Being four and zip, we’re in a good spot, so I don’t need to rush back.
“I can see the younger boys and everyone else get a bit more time in the midfield, which would be good for their learning.”
In the Bellarine, Newcomb will be without Oli Poulson until well into the second half of the season after scans confirmed he fractured a scaphoid in Saturday’s 24-point loss to Queenscliff.
The Northern Territory product was making his first appearance of the season for the Power after the club took a conservative approach with a back issue from the NTFL season.
“When we had a look at him, we knew it was pretty serious,” Power coach Tony Mirabella said.
“He’s a pretty tough kid, so when he’s hurt, we know there’s definitely something going on.
“He went and had the scan after the game, and, unfortunately, it came back with a fracture in the scaphoid.
“I doubt we’ll see Ollie in the next six weeks,
“The scaphoid’s an interesting injury. There can be a lot that plays out with it, so we hope that it’s the very minimum, and hopefully we can get him back for the back half of the season and give him another go.
“He’s had a rough run the last two seasons in the Bellarine when he’s crossed over from the NTFL.”
Newcomb is also likely to be without former co-captain Ryan Jackman (soreness) for its clash with Drysdale at Mortimer Oval.
However, current co-captain Dion Johnstone will return from a two-match suspension.
And in the GDFNL, a shoulder injury suffered by Werribee Centrals gun Connor Linehan-Cunningham during the big win over Belmont Lions has been diagnosed as a nerve impingement.
He is likely to miss this week’s meeting with reigning premier North Geelong before returning for the clash with East Geelong.
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