MELBOURNE duo Jordan Lewis and Alex Neal-Bullen are set to be available for the red and blue’s season-opener against Geelong Cats at the MCG on Sunday, March 25.
Elite performance manager Dave Misson confirmed the duo would be available, after Lewis missed the second JLT Community Series match against St Kilda at Casey Fields with a calf injury, and Alex Neal-Bullen was rested as a precaution, due to a tight quad.
Tom McDonald remains a test, due to a toe problem, and as already announced, co-captain Jack Viney will miss round one, as he continues to return from a foot injury. But Aaron vandenBerg (ankle) and Pat McKenna (hamstring) have been ruled out indefinitely.
Looking ahead to round one …
“We were happy with the hit-out against a good side [in St Kilda last week]. Now we’re getting ready for round one and making sure we do enough, but not too much to get us ready for Sunday week,” Misson said.
“Every club’s had one less practice game this year, essentially, so, it’ll be interesting to see what affect that has. We’re pretty happy with our preparation and we’ve had a lot of guys who have played both [JLT] games.
“We’ve had some really good, strong training loads, leading in. We’re playing a very good team [in Geelong], so we’re conscious it’s going to be a tough game. But I think we’ll pick a pretty good team and we’ll be competitive and we’re looking forward to it.”
Misson’s injury list assessments …
Jordan Lewis (calf) – available
“Jordie hurt his calf in JLT one [against North Melbourne] in Hobart. It was the first ever soft-tissue injury he’s had. We’ve been reasonably conservative, but he’s done a lot of running and he’ll do a big rehab session on Friday and then look to join the group next week and essentially he’ll be available.”
Tom McDonald (toe) – test
“Tom’s just had a bit of a sore toe for probably four to six weeks, and we’ve been managing his loads. But we just felt we needed to bite the bullet and get him off legs for 10 to 12 days. We’re going to start to load him towards the end of this week, and just see how that goes. We’ll make a decision on Tom next week.”
Pat McKenna (hamstring) – indefinite
“Patty went to Canberra last week with one of our physios and had a good session with Craig Purdham [who is a consultant physio at the AIS]. He brought a couple of good things back, and our medical team has been really good, and patient with Patty, and some of the issues he’s had. Again, we’d like to think that he’s turned a bit of a corner and we’ve put in a couple of different things in his program. He’s actually started running and he’s going pretty well. The jury is still out a little bit, but we’ll see how he’s going in a couple of weeks’ time. But again, we’re happy with where he’s at.”
Alex Neal-Bullen (quadriceps) – available
“He’s very similar to Jordie. He just pulled up with a bit of a tight quad after that Hobart game. Again, it was on the lesser side of a quad strain, but we’ve been slow with him and taken the time that we’ve had in between JLT round and round one. He’s exactly the same as Lewy – he’ll do a big session Friday and then join the group Monday and be available for Sunday week.”
Aaron vandenBerg (ankle) – indefinite
“He’s actually doing his first session outside on Friday, so he’s now done three weeks on the AlterG [Anti-Gravity] Treadmill. He’s tracking really well and feeling good, and is not getting any soreness in that ankle. We’re quietly hopeful that he’s turned the corner and he’s going to start to get some good work into him outside.”
Jack Viney (foot) – 1-2 weeks
“Jack’s going really well. As Josh [Mahoney] has said in the media previously, Jack hasn’t had a setback at all, but we’re very conscious that he’s an important player to us. We want to set him up for a really good year, and we feel that rushing him – just because it’s round one, isn’t doing the right thing by Jack. We want to make sure that he’s got enough training in him, and enough work under his belt to set him up for a good year. He’s been ruled out of round one – but is it round two or round three [that he returns?] We’re not 100 per cent sure, but it won’t be far from that.”
Melbourne injury list: pre-round one
Jordan Lewis (calf) – available
Tom McDonald (toe) – test
Pat McKenna (hamstring) – indefinite
Alex Neal-Bullen (quadriceps) – available
Aaron vandenBerg (ankle) – indefinite
Jack Viney (foot) – 1-2 weeks
