CHRISTIAN Salem has been forced to the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
Salem was unable to finish Sunday’s match against Fremantle following some tightness, with the club’s High Performance Manager Selwyn Griffith providing an update on the defender.
“Christian came to the bench after feeling his hamstring cramp in the third period after accelerating,” Griffith said.
“He wasn't able to return to the field due to a loss of strength.
“Scans have shown that he does have a low-grade hamstring strain, so he'll miss this week and we’ll continue to progress him through hamstring reconditioning protocols.”
Koltyn Tholstrup was the second casualty from the Sunday game, with delayed concussion symptoms pushing him into required protocols.
“Koltyn had a head knock in the game,” Griffith said.
“He passed the initial SCAT (sport concussion assessment tool) and was cleared of anything there.
“Following us returning to Melbourne, he had some delayed symptoms with headaches and altered vision and has now entered the concussion protocol. So, he'll progress through that as symptoms settle.”
Coming out of the VFL game, Jed Adams was removed from the match following a contest, visiting hospital for further checks.
“Jed had an incident in the VFL game where he had a high impact to the sternum and chest and had some pain from that,” Griffith said.
“He went to hospital and fortunately was cleared of any severe damage but does have some internal bruising that will require him to have a week off contact.
“And then we'll progress him back into contact as his symptoms allow.”
Ben Brown was absent from both AFL and VFL matches due to some knee soreness.
“Ben had some knee soreness last week following the game, we gave him every opportunity to be able to play the game, but unfortunately just wasn't able to,” Griffith said.
“So, we'll reassess that this week, with our main priority to make sure Ben is able to function to be at AFL level for the back end of the season.”
In positive news for the Demon faithful, skipper Max Gawn is tracking well towards a return, with main training the final test before availability.
“Max trained really well last week and had another great session over the weekend, he's been an absolute professional in his recovery,” Griffith said.
“He'll look to integrate into full training tomorrow and then we'll make an assessment on his availability following training tomorrow.”
Lachie Hunter is also looking like he’ll make his return via the VFL after a short one-week stint on the sidelines with a minor calf injury.
“He's recovered really well from that low-grade calf [injury],” Griffith said.
“He completed a match volume session on the weekend. He'll look to train fully tomorrow and then return through the VFL on some modified minutes to allow him to be AFL ready for the back end of the season.”
