JOEL Smith has undergone surgery to repair a shoulder injury sustained against St Kilda in round one.
Elite performance manager Dave Misson confirmed Smith and defender Colin Garland (knee) both went in for operations on Tuesday.
“Joel dislocated his shoulder in an incident in the first quarter and we sat down with surgeons and doctors, and made the decision that he’d be better off having surgery, which he’s doing today,” he told Melbourne TV.
“We still expect to get some good footy out of Joel in the back half of the year. It’ll be three to four months, but he’ll be up and going by the end of that rehab period.
“He’ll have done a lot of running and we’ll need to get some footy [conditioning] and contact into him. The back half of the year, hopefully we’ll get some good footy out of him.”
On Garland, Misson said: “He’s also having an ACL operated on today.”
Ruckman Max Gawn suffered a back injury early against the Saints, but Misson said the 2016 All-Australian was right for round two against Carlton at the MCG on Sunday.
“He hasn’t pulled up too bad,” he said.
“He’s had an easy start to the week, but we expect him to train on Thursday and there will be no issues there.”
Defender Michael Hibberd (Achilles) remains a couple of weeks away.
“He’s been a bit disjointed over January and February, so we want to give him a good opportunity to have a good season to set him up, so he’s going to be another week or two,” Misson said.
Hard-nut Aaron vandenBerg (heel) remains out until at least May, but livewire Jay Kennedy-Harris is a week away.
“Vanders is still in the boot, which he’ll come out of in the next couple of days,” Misson said.
“He’s probably going to need a five-to-six week rehab to get back to play from that.
“[Kennedy-Harris] sees the surgeon tomorrow (Wednesday) to get the all clear to do contact, so he’ll train with the group on Thursday and he’ll have a big session with the rehab group on Saturday, but we’re hoping he’ll play next week.”
Youngsters Liam Hulett (hip) and Mitch King (knee) are still two weeks and four matches away respectively.
“Liam just tweaked a hip flexor a couple of weeks ago and he’s back running, so he’ll be another couple of weeks, and Mitch King is still on the long-term injury list and has still got a month to go,” Misson said.
“He’s actually back training, but coming off that ACL, we want him to have a good solid month of training before he plays.”
Misson said big man Sam Frost (toe) and Josh Wagner (fibula) were available to play this weekend.
“Both of them have had different types of rehab – Josh with his fibula in the Bulldogs [JLT Community Series] game and Sam just with a recurrence of a toe injury,” he said.
“Both have trained really strongly in the last couple of weeks and then they’re going to have a game this week.”
Melbourne injury list: round two
Sam Frost (toe) – available
Colin Garland (knee) – season
Max Gawn (back) – available
Jay Kennedy-Harris (arm) – 1 week
Mitch King (knee) – 4 weeks
Michael Hibberd (Achilles) – 2 weeks
Liam Hulett (hip flexor) – 2 weeks
Joel Smith (shoulder) – 3-4 months
Aaron vandenBerg (heel) – 6 weeks
Josh Wagner (fibula) – available
