COACH Simon Goodwin says it’s too early to tell how serious co-captain Jack Viney’s foot injury is, which he injured against the Sydney Swans at the MCG on Friday night.
The courageous Viney was unable to play out the game and it remains to be seen how much football he will miss.
“He’s got some plantar fasciitis. Whether it’s a tear or a partial tear – we’ll just get that assessed,” Goodwin said after his side’s 35-point loss.
“It’s not looking great for him. We’ll get a clearer picture when our medical team have a really good look at him and he has scans.
“We’ll just have to wait and see. It’s disappointing again to lose another player, but once again that creates opportunity for others.”
But Goodwin said key forward Jesse Hogan trained “really strongly” on Friday and was not out of the picture for Melbourne’s next match against Carlton at the MCG on Sunday, July 9.
“He’s getting closer and closer and he’ll have to do a really strong week of training this week and we’ll assess him as we go,” he said.
“If it’s not next week, it’ll definitely be the week after [against the Adelaide Crows in Darwin], but we’re hopeful he’ll get through the rest of next week.”
Goodwin said goalsneak Jeff Garlett was “close” for next round and tall Jack Watts was a “chance”.
Although Goodwin said it was a disappointing loss to the Swans, he added that his team had produced some strong football in recent weeks.
“We saw this period in our schedule as an opportunity to grow and develop as a footy club and build some momentum in our season,” he said.
“The boys have been unbelievable in being able to do that – four games in 18 days is something I haven’t seen much before in the competition.
“To win three of those games out of four was terrific. We’ve lost some players through that period, so it’s taken a little bit of a toll from a personnel perspective, but the boys have still got a great belief in how they go about their business.
“I think now we get an opportunity to really reset as a footy club and we’ll look forward to the rest of the season.”
Meanwhile, Goodwin said Tom Bugg deeply regretted his strike on Swan Callum Mills. And he added that his team played a physical brand of football and discipline wasn’t an issue.
“Clearly, Tom is remorseful about it. It’s not a great look and what will be, will be,” he said.
“It’s not what we want to stand for as a footy club, so we’ll deal with what comes his way.
“He’s extremely remorseful about what took place and I don’t know if it had a great impact on our team, but it’s clearly not how we want to be seen as a footy club.”
