KEY forward Jesse Hogan will be sidelined indefinitely, due to ongoing issues with his back injury.
The yet-to-debut 19-year-old has made one appearance this year – in Melbourne’s 13-point loss to Geelong at TIO Traeger Park Oval in the NAB Challenge in February – but has been sidelined since.
Elite performance manager Dave Misson said Hogan needed some time to recover from the setback.
“Jesse’s had some setbacks with his back and we tried to get him going a couple of times now, but his symptoms have reappeared, so we need to give him an extended period of time off,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“That’ll happen over the next month or so.”
Misson said midfielder Jack Trengove had received a positive review from the surgeon, following foot surgery.
“He had a surgical review on Monday and the surgeon was pretty happy with the operation,” he said.
“Jack will be in a boot for the better part of the next two months, so the surgery went well and we expect Jack to have a good pre-season and he’ll be back bigger and better than ever.”
Unfortunately for rookies Max King (leg) and James Harmes (lung), they are set to be sidelined for several weeks.
“Max has got a stress fracture in his fibula on his jumping leg, so he’ll miss the next four to six I’d say.”
“He (Harmes) suffered a punctured lung in the Casey game on the weekend.
“We’re still getting some opinions on that from specialists, so we can’t give a timeframe there, with regards to games. It might be four weeks before he’s back.”
Midfielder Viv Michie will miss one more week with a broken jaw.
“Viv’s been training, albeit with no contact as yet, but he’ll train full contact next week and play next weekend,” Misson said.
Ruckman Jake Spencer and defender Colin Garland will face fitness tests.
“He’s (Spencer) got an ankle issue at the moment and he didn’t play last week and we gave him the weekend off. He’ll be a test for this week,” Misson said.
“He got a knock above his knee. The knee structurally is sound, but it’s just a little bit swollen at the moment. We expect Col to be able to do some training on Thursday and play on the weekend.”
In better news, second-year Demon Dean Kent will be available, after overcoming a calf injury.
“Kenty trained today (Tuesday) with the main group and will do so again on Thursday and we expect him to play,” he said.
Melbourneinjury list: round seven
ColinGarland (knee) – test
JamesHarmes (lung) – indefinite
Jesse Hogan(back) – indefinite
Dean Kent(calf) – available
Max King(leg) – 4-6 weeks
Viv Michie(jaw) – 1 week
JakeSpencer (ankle) – test
JackTrengove (foot) – season
