ON TOP of its shattering two-point loss to St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Sunday night, Melbourne has been dealt a tough blow, with versatile tall Cam Pedersen suffering a season-ending injury and defender Jack Grimes sidelined until August.
Elite performance manager Dave Misson confirmed on Tuesday that Pedersen had suffered a nasty wrist injury and Grimes had sustained a broken thumb from the round 11 loss.
“Cam had a pretty bad injury on his wrist. He both fractured and dislocated his wrist,” he told Dee TV.
“He had an initial operation after the game on Sunday night and he’ll have the main reconstructive surgery on Friday, this week. He’ll be out for the season.
“[Grimes] broke his thumb in a spoiling situation and he had surgery yesterday (Monday) afternoon.
“He’ll have wires in that thumb for about four weeks, so he’ll be six to eight weeks away.”
Youngster Jayden Hunt, who was sidelined for almost a year with a back injury, has suffered another setback, sustaining a broken jaw while playing for Casey in the AFL Victoria Development League last weekend.
Misson said Hunt would miss the next “three to four weeks”.
“He reported a saw jaw, so [it was] looked at via x-ray and CT scan, and he’s got a little crack there, which conservatively you could let it heal, but it’d take eight weeks,” he said.
“But he’s keen to come back and get stuck in as quickly as possible, so he’ll have an operation to get a plate put in on Thursday.”
Midfielder Ben Newton, who suffered concussion playing for Casey against Coburg at Casey Fields on Saturday, and Jack Fitzpatrick (adductor), who did not play last weekend, face fitness tests.
“Ben saw the doctor today (Tuesday) and [the doctor is] pretty confident, based on the testing he did, that Ben would get up to play this week, but he’ll be a test,” Misson said.
“[Jack] had a minor adductor complaint, so we pulled him from the VFL. He was an emergency with the AFL game, but we expect Jack to train tomorrow (Wednesday) and be available to play in either game this weekend.”
Defender Colin Garland (broken hand) should be right to resume after the bye.
“Col had a run today (Tuesday) and he’ll do some shadow training on Friday, and he won’t play this week, but I would expect Col to be OK for the game in Darwin [against the West Coast Eagles] after the bye,” Misson said.
Rookie Aaron vandenBerg and youngster Christian Salem are up to a month away, due to hamstring injuries.
“They’re both about four weeks I reckon,” he said.
“The bye gives us an extra week and they’re both running at the moment.
“We’ll track them over the course of the next few weeks to determine when exactly they come back.”
Powerful forward Dean Kent looms as a late July/early August return after undergoing hamstring surgery, following Melbourne’s round four win over Richmond at the MCG.
“He’s running really well. He was actually ill over the weekend and missed a couple of sessions, because of illness, but he ran again yesterday (Monday) and he’ll do another good session tomorrow (Wednesday),” Misson said.
“He’s probably five to six weeks away I reckon. He’s probably two or three weeks away from joining in training.”
Former Giant and first-year Demon Sam Frost (toe) is now out of his moon boot, but remains sidelined until the latter part of the season.
“He’ll do his first run on the AlterG d-load treadmill on Friday and he’ll probably do three sessions on that treadmill and gradually do a little bit more load each time and then start running outside,” Misson said.
“He’s still probably six weeks away.”
Christian Petracca (knee) and Jack Trengove (foot) continue to work in rehab, due to season-long injuries.
“They’re both tracking pretty well. Christian is not far away from running and Trenners has another scan towards the end of July, which will determine his running program, when he starts running,” Misson said.
“Those guys are working pretty hard in the gym.”
Melbourne injury list: round 12
Jack Fitzpatrick (adductor) – test
Sam Frost (toe) – 6 weeks
Colin Garland (hand) – 1 week
Jack Grimes (thumb) – 6-8 weeks
Jayden Hunt (jaw) – 3-4 weeks
Dean Kent (hamstring) – 5-6 weeks
Ben Newton (concussion) – test
Cam Pedersen (wrist) – season
Christian Petracca (knee) – season
Christian Salem (hamstring) – 3-4 weeks
Jack Trengove (knee) – season
Aaron vandenBerg (hamstring) – 3-4 weeks
