CHRISTIAN Salem and Angus Brayshaw have been ruled out this round, after they were both concussed in separate incidents last weekend.
Salem suffered a knock in Melbourne’s 39-point loss against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium and Brayshaw copped a football in the back of the head, courtesy of teammate Alex Neal-Bullen, playing for Casey during its win over Essendon at Windy Hill last Sunday.
“Both of those guys haven’t quite come up this week,” elite performance manager Dave Misson said.
“Gus was a day later than Christian – he had a pretty solid hit to the head with the footy and is still symptomatic today (Wednesday).
“Christian was touch and go and had a run today, but he still had some recurring symptoms. They’re two young guys and we want to set them up for a good season, so we’ve ruled them out already.”
In better news, key forward Chris Dawes is set to play his first match of any sorts this season for Casey, after being sidelined with a calf injury.
“Dawesy’s been through an extended rehab and his attitude’s been first-class during the whole rehab,” Misson said.
“He’s been touch and go for a couple of weeks, but we just wanted to really tick every box and make sure he’s got enough training minutes in him.
“He’s champing at the bit to get out there and we really hope he goes from strength to strength after this week. He’s been outstanding during his rehab process.”
Rookie Joel Smith will also play in the VFL this weekend, after missing two matches with a groin injury.
“Joel’s just a young kid and it’s his first year of footy,” Misson said.
“He’s super athletic and in a way his body can’t quite handle his athleticism at the moment.
“He just needs a little bit of time off occasionally and we’ve decided to be conservative with him, but he’s ready to go this week.”
Utility Aaron vandenBerg (ankle) and small forward Jay Kennedy-Harris (hamstring) will be out for another three to four weeks.
“Both of those guys are doing some really good stuff in rehab,” Misson said.
“Jay, it’s been his second hamstring rehab, and again his attitude has been great.
“Aaron’s ankle, which has been grumbly since the second NAB Challenge game, is the best it’s been for six months. So we’re hoping those guys have a really good backend stage with their rehab.
“They’re both probably due to return the weekend Casey has a bye, so it’s more likely that they’ll return the weekend after the bye, which will make it four weeks from here.”
Melbourne injury list: round seven
Angus Brayshaw (concussion) – 1 week
Chris Dawes (calf) – available
Jay Kennedy-Harris (hamstring) – 3-4 weeks
Christian Salem (concussion) – 1 week
Joel Smith (groin) – available
Aaron vandenBerg (ankle) – 3-4 weeks
