JACK Viney has pulled up strongly from his first match of the year and remains on track to play against Carlton at the MCG on Sunday, says elite performance manager Dave Misson.
The co-captain played for Casey Demons last weekend – his first match of any sorts since round 21 last year – and is set to line-up for the red and blue in round nine.
In other injury news, ruckman Mitch King (elbow) is now just a week away from resuming in the VFL, while forward Dean Kent (hamstring) remains out for another month.
Tough-nut Aaron vandenBerg (ankle), who has yet to play this year, is making good strides and is now set to resume in the second half of the season.
But ball-winner Corey Maynard (hip) and utility Pat McKenna (hamstring) remain sidelined indefinitely.
Misson said the team came through unscathed from its win over the Suns last round.
“It’s always good to get a win, particularly when it's away. It was good conditions to play in and the ground was in good shape,” he said.
“The boys pulled up really well, and apart from having to leave Clayton [Oliver] behind to do a drug test in Brisbane, things went pretty smoothly.
“It’s good to be back at the ‘G this week, even though it’s an away game, but we’re going to have a reasonable list to choose from. We’re looking forward to a good game against a team that played well on the weekend for their first win.”
Misson’s injury assessments
Dean Kent (hamstring) – 4 weeks
“Dean did that hamstring on Anzac Eve. He’s been doing some good work in rehab, but he’ll be another month away, so he’ll be post-bye.”
Mitch King (elbow) – 1 week
“Mitch is starting to do some good contact work. He’ll stay in rehab probably this week, but then train with the group next week. Hopefully he’ll be available for Casey next week.”
Corey Maynard (hip) – indefinite
“We gave him a few weeks to unload his hip. He was getting a bit of pain there, but he’s done four or five running sessions now and is feeling really good. We’re hoping he’s tracking well to play after the bye.”
Pat McKenna (hamstring) – indefinite
“Patty is progressing his running in rehab. He ran at about 80 per cent on Tuesday and we’ll look to consolidate that over the next few weeks and he needs a big block of football training because he hasn’t played for so long. He’s tracking well.”
Aaron vandenBerg (ankle) – 6 weeks
“Aaron’s going well and has been for a while now. He’ll keep going with his running and agility – getting up to about 90 per cent this week. He’ll look to start a little bit of training in about a week and a half. We’re hoping that he’ll play pretty soon after the bye.”
Jack Viney (foot) – available
“He played his first game for a while at Casey on Sunday. He played about 85 minutes and pulled up really well, so he did everything we asked of him. The important thing is that he’s pulled up well and he'll fully train on Thursday and be available again this week.”
Melbourne injury list: round nine
Dean Kent (hamstring) – 4 weeks
Mitch King (elbow) – 1 week
Corey Maynard (hip) – indefinite
Pat McKenna (hamstring) – indefinite
Aaron vandenBerg (ankle) – 6 weeks
Jack Viney (foot) – available
