MELBOURNE skipper Max Gawn will officially enter his rehabilitation program this week, following a knee injury sustained during Friday’s clash against Brisbane.
It was confirmed on Saturday that Gawn had suffered a Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) sprain, with Club Doctor Laura Lallenec providing a further update on the captain's injury on Monday.
“With that type of mechanism, it does always worry us whether it’s an ACL or MCL injury,” Lallenec told Melbourne Media.
“Assessing [Max], he has had a previous MCL injury, so it made it a bit difficult assessing him, so we weren’t sure which way it could be.
“By the end of the night, he didn’t have any swelling, he was pretty comfortable, so our confidence was that it was more likely to be an MCL injury, and then thankfully, by the next day, the MRI confirmed that.”
Gawn and the high-performance team are hopeful his return to play will be approximately four to six weeks.
Steven May, who has been sidelined with a minor calf injury, is set to make a return to the team for Sunday’s match against Sydney, with the nine-day turnaround creating a hopeful timeline for the defender.
“He’s got through our training today; he’ll continue to progress [and] aim to full-train on Thursday,” Lallenec said.
“[So] we’re really hopeful and confident he’ll be fine to play this Sunday.”
Last Thursday, it was announced that defender Christian Salem had an unfortunate set-back in his return from thyroid issues, as scans confirmed that the 27-year-old had torn his meniscus.
“Unfortunately, it was what we call unstable and needed to be trimmed back by the surgeon this morning,” Lallenec said.
“Surgery went really well, and he will have a week at home, resting, and then start to get back into training.”
During a two-goal haul in the VFL on Sunday, Josh Schache was involved in a head knock and was unable to finish the game.
Schache will enter concussion protocols, which is a 12-day minimum break meaning he will miss this weekend’s game, while defender Daniel Turner (ribs) will need to pass a test to be deemed fit to play.
In unfortunate news for young ruck, Will Verrall, the 19-year-old has bone stress in his pelvis and will be on the sidelines for an extended period of time.
Check out the full injury list below.
