KEY forward Jesse Hogan will be rested this week, as part of his preparation for round one and the 2016 season.
Elite performance manager Dave Misson confirmed on Thursday morning that Hogan wouldn’t play against the Western Bulldogs at Craigieburn on Sunday.
“Jesse won’t play this week. We’re really happy with his pre-season and where he’s at,” he told Dee TV.
“He played reasonable minutes last week, so we just think that moving forward for his preparation for round one and the first half of the season, it’s the right thing to do to give him the weekend off.
“He’ll do some good training this week and get ready for NAB [Challenge, week] three.”
But Misson confirmed captain Nathan Jones and 2015 best and fairest winner Bernie Vince would play against the Dogs.
“Both of those guys will be available this week,” he said.
Misson said the club was now clear on the injury status of second-year midfielder Angus Brayshaw, who will miss the next four weeks, but remains some chance for round one.
“We spent a bit of time gathering information on Gus,” he said.
“The upshot of that is that he has a minor medial ligament sprain and a little bit of bone bruising.
“We’re treating him clinically now and he’ll probably start running next week and we’ll look to get him going pretty quickly.”
Misson said the club was being cautious with big man Chris Dawes’ calf injury.
“Dawesy’s going well. He’s started running and doing a fair bit of strength work,” he said.
“We’ve probably taken a little bit longer with his rehab, than a normal calf, because he’s had a few of them in the past.”
Ruckman Jake Spencer (foot) and utility Ben Newton (ankle) are making progress with their respective injuries, according to Misson.
“Spence has had some plantar fascia issues and he’ll do some running tomorrow (Friday) and he’s improving every day,” he said.
“We’re hoping that his run tomorrow will launch him into playing in a few weeks.
“Ben Newton, [who had] that ankle surgery prior to Christmas, he’s in the midst of a really strong running program and will probably join in with the group in two or three weeks.”
Heritier Lumumba (ankles), Jack Trengove (foot) and Christian Petracca (toe) have all joined in the main group at training.
“All of those guys are at different stages next week. ’H’ will probably play next week and come through Casey in a practice match game. He’s been training really well, as has Trenners,” he said.
“With Trenners, he’s missed a lot of footy, so we want him to have a really strong block of training before he plays.
“Christian Petracca did his first session yesterday (Wednesday) with the group, after a layoff with that toe [injury]. He’ll need an extended block of training before he plays again.”
