Fremantle have shut down Sean Darcy and Nat Fyfe for the season, the duo heading for surgery as the Dockers’ disappointing campaign continues to dwindle.
Gun ruckman Darcy hurt his ankle against Collingwood in round 18 and missed last weekend’s clash with Sydney, the club confirming on Monday he will have surgery to repair ligament damage.
Fyfe will have surgery on a pre-existing finger injury, having been ruled out for the year with a stress fracture in his foot.
Fremantle said Fyfe had originally intended to get the finger surgery at the end of the season, but it was brought forward when confirmed he won’t feature again this year.
The Dockers were already long odds to play finals but it certainly doesn’t help their chances, 10 premiership points and considerable percentage outside the eight.
Elsewhere, Essendon’s bid to make finals has also suffered a setback with star defender Jordan Ridley likely to miss the remainder of the home-and-away season.
(Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Bomber Ridley hurt his quad during the last quarter of the Bombers’ 41-point defeat to the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.
The Bombers on Monday confirmed the 24-year-old suffered a “high-grade” quad strain.
“It’s disappointing for Rids who has been one of our most consistent players this season,” Essendon performance manager Dan McPherson said.
“We’ll get a more accurate sense of his potential return-to-play timeline in the next week or so, but at this early stage we believe he is unlikely to play before the last round of the home-and-away season.”
Essendon slumped to 11th with the loss to the Bulldogs but have winnable games against Sydney, West Coast, North Melbourne and GWS, before a final round showdown with premiership favourites Collingwood.
And Adelaide have been dealt a double injury blow from their loss to Melbourne, with reliable defender Nick Murray and goalsneak Izak Rankine set for stints on the sideline.
Murray is out for the year after rupturing his ACL, while Rankine is expected to miss a month with a hamstring injury.
“Obviously it’s shattering news for Nick and the team,” Adelaide high performance manager Darren Burgess said after scans on Monday confirmed Murray would need a knee reconstruction.
“He’s been in great form and taken significant steps in his development in the past three years.
“Knowing the player he is, he will attack his rehab with the right attitude and be back bigger and better.”
The Crows will need to find another livewire up forward to keep their season alive, with Rankine having booted 35 goals this year.
Rising star Jaspa Fletcher locked in at Lions
Jaspa Fletcher has locked in a two-year extension at the Brisbane Lions after a rising star nomination franked his impressive form since a mid-season AFL debut.
The rookie and son of former Lions player Adrian Fletcher has quickly become one of coach Chris Fagan’s first-picked, playing every game since his round-14 debut.
He won a rising star nod on Saturday against Geelong and on Tuesday confirmed a contract extension until 2026.
“Due to stress fractures in my back, I missed a lot of the pre-season and had a pretty slow start, which isn’t how I wanted to begin my AFL career,” he said.
“But I think that has set me up to be where I am now and showed me how hard I do have to work to earn anything in the AFL.”
Fletcher’s form offsets the loss of fellow rookie and father-son pick Will Ashcroft, who was the rising star favourite before suffering a season-ending knee injury on Saturday.
Lyon over Marvel roof complaint after AFL explanation
Ross Lyon says the AFL’s acting football boss eased his concerns about the Marvel Stadium surface after he had earlier suggested St Kilda were “treated with contempt” by the ground’s roof being left open before the game.
Laura Kane called the Saints coach on Monday and explained the league’s policy on closing the roof, which sees it shut 2-1/2 hours before a match, and even earlier when wet weather is expected.
In his post-match press conference, Lyon said the decision to leave the roof open overnight on Saturday while mist rolled in and created a slippery playing environment, wouldn’t have happened to bigger AFL clubs.
He was forced to deny he was simply deflecting attention away from what he admitted was a lacklustre display from his side, having been given an almighty scare by 17th-ranked North Melbourne before scraping over the line by two points.
Lyon pointed out Melbourne Storm captain Christian Welch had brought up the same issues after his team lost an NRL game at Marvel Stadium last month, Welch having wondered why the roof wasn’t shut earlier on a day when it was raining.
“I make no apologies for fighting for our club, but I’ve certainly been placated by the process,” Lyon told Fox Footy.
“I had a great conversation with Laura Kane. To Laura’s credit, she got on the phone, and she explained the situation.
Mattaes Phillipou is tackled by Luke McDonald. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
“They have a process that’s imperfect because it’s based on (predictions), they normally shut at two-and-a-half hours out if there’s no prediction of rain (and) somehow they realised the mist was coming in at 11 so they shut it.
“I would say eradicate the risk, just keep the roof shut Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night. We prepare like every week’s a grand final, we try and mitigate all risk.”
His complaints didn’t distract from another unimpressive Saints display, having to overturn a three-quarter-time deficit to beat a side that’s now lost 16 straight games. Lyon admitted there were plenty of nerves at the final break, and didn’t begrudge his own fans delivering some qualitative feedback as they trailed by 16 points.
“It was tense at three-quarter-time, the abuse coming down was red-hot. I thought ‘welcome back’ … but I thought it was fair enough,” he said.
“(The coaches) looked around the whiteboard, we thought to get (Mitch) Owens into the ruck and the magic potion of (Jack) Sinclair into the midfield, which we do a lot, that’s no secret. It became a bit of a weight of numbers, it was pretty simple, they drove it forward and got a-hold of them.
“We kicked 5.3 in a quarter, I wish we played like that all the time.”
The Roarhttps://https://ift.tt/yrVwFp3 News: Dockers duo ruled out for season, Lions lock in rising star, Lyon nonplussed by roof rationale
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