CAPTAIN Nathan Jones suffered “a nasty knock on his knee” a couple of weeks ago during a training session at Casey Fields and is doubtful to play this weekend.
Elite performance manager Dave Misson said the triple best and fairest winner was unlikely to play in Melbourne’s NAB Challenge opener against Port Adelaide at Elizabeth on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s affected his gait a little bit, but he’s trained really well the last couple of sessions and will be back in with the group on Thursday, but probably won’t play this weekend,” he told Dee TV.
Misson said the club was going to be cautious with key forward Chris Dawes, who recently suffered another calf injury.
“Dawesy pinged his calf a week and a half ago, so it’s probably the fourth one in the past 12 months,” he said.
“We’re going to take a little bit longer with this one, because he’s someone we want to set up to have a really good year.
“It’s still only the end of February, so we’re going to use the time that we’ve got now to try and get a base of running into him, and try and set him up to have a good season.”
Ruckman Jake Spencer irritated a heel in last Friday’s intra-club, according to Misson, and will be assessed.
“It’s been grumbling away … so he’s still reasonably sore, four days post that game, so we’ll monitor him over the next couple of days,” he said.
Utility Ben Newton, who injured an ankle pre-Christmas, is making progress.
“He’s going well. It was unfortunate timing for him. He’d had a really good off-season and was running very well and had the op just before Christmas,” he said.
“He’s been running now for three weeks, so in a couple of weeks, he’ll be back into footy.
“He’s someone who’s going to need a month of footy before he plays. He’s still a mid to long-term prospect for us.”
Christian Petracca, now entering his second AFL-listed season, is getting closer to training with the main group.
“He’s ticking off his final stages of rehab this week and he’ll come back and train with the group next week,” Misson said.
“He needs to do a bit of training before he plays again.”
Dasher Heritier Lumumba (ankles) and ruckman Max King (knee) joined in training on Tuesday.
“They did about three quarters of the session and got through well, so we’re hoping they’ll play in the third NAB [Challenge] weekend,” he said.
“They need two or three weeks of training, so they’ll just keep working with the group until then.”
Misson said former co-captain Jack Trengove (foot) has also stepped up his training.
“Trenners has probably done six sessions with the group now. He did two thirds of the session [on Tuesday], so he’s not far away from doing full training,” he said.
“He probably needs a month of full training before he’s ready to play, having missed 18 months of footy. We want to set him up to have a good year, so he’s realistic he needs a bit of footy work under his belt.
“He’s looked really good in the two weeks that he’s been training with the group, but he probably needs another three or four weeks.”
Misson said the players had now finished their pre-season and had started ‘in season’ training on Tuesday.
“The guys had a long weekend after the intra-club on Friday and came back pretty fresh on [Tuesday],” Misson said.
“They’re looking forward to it [this weekend] and like everyone, it always feels like a long pre-season.
“The last couple of weeks every club is doing match simulation and it doesn’t actually simulate playing against real opposition. I think they’re champing at the bit to get out there and have a good hit out against a really good team.”
