CO-CAPTAIN Jack Grimes will miss the rest of the season, after reinjuring his hamstring in last Sunday’s 64-point loss to Greater Western Sydney at the MCG.
Elite performance manager Dave Misson confirmed the defender would miss Melbourne’s final two matches against the West Coast Eagles and North Melbourne respectively.
“He reinjured that hamstring that he did a couple of weeks prior,” he told Dee TV.
“The scan revealed a similar area and a similar-sized tear and it was not too bad, but it’ll mean that he won’t play again this season.”
In better news, Misson said the return of Jesse Hogan (back) and Jimmy Toumpas (appendicitis) in the VFL last weekend had been positive.
“Both of those guys got through and they had limited time in the VFL – and they stuck to that,” he said.
“They’ll play some bigger minutes this week, but both pulled up well and trained today and are looking forward to playing this weekend.”
First-year Demon Jayden Hunt, who has missed the past 11 rounds with a back injury, has resumed training.
“[The aim] was to get him back in the main group training and he did that today (Wednesday),” he said.
“He got through training really well and he’ll train with the VFL on Friday and then again next week with the group.
“[Hopefully] we’ll be able to send him into the pre-season with a decent program and hopefully he’ll front up the first day of pre-season ready to go.”
Midfielder Jack Trengove had his first run on Monday, on the AlterG treadmill, and pulled up well, according to Misson.
“As you can imagine, a guy who’s had some pretty significant stuff done to his foot – and hasn’t really loaded that foot much in the last four months – is just getting used to loading it, from a running point of view again,” he said.
“He’ll probably spend two or three weeks on the D load treadmill, before we run him outside. All of the initial signs are pretty good.”
Ruckman Jake Spencer is also not too far away from running.
“We’re still just waiting another week or so [with Jake] before we put him on the [AlterG] treadmill and we’re just giving him a little bit more time,” he said.
“We expect his rehab over the off-season will be soon and he’ll be ready to go in the pre-season.”
Melbourne injury list: round 22
Jack Grimes (hamstring) – season
Jayden Hunt (back) – season
Jake Spencer (ankle) – season
Jack Trengove (foot) – season
