SAM WEIDEMAN has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery to his jaw on Monday night.
The 22-year-old suffered a nasty blow to the head from teammate Declan Keilty in the opening minute of his VFL return on Sunday, leaving him concussed and out of the game.
But scans on Monday revealed the extent of the injury, with the key forward requiring an operation to kickstart his recovery.
“Unfortunately, he’s done for the year – he had surgery on his jaw last night,” Elite Performance Manager David Misson told Melbourne Media.
“It was broken in two spots, so it was reasonably significant, but it shouldn’t interrupt the start to his pre-season too much.”
The Demons have also confirmed it is season over for Kade Kolodjashnij who has had an unfortunate run of head knocks in recent years.
“Obviously he’s had multiple concussions, so we’re being cautious with him,” Misson said.
“He’s just come back from the Gold Coast after having a bit of time away with his family just to reset, but he’s come back pretty enthusiastic to get going again.
“He won’t play this year, but we’re hoping we’ll set him up for a good pre-season.”
The 23-year-old crossed over from Gold Coast during the off-season but has managed just two games in the red and blue after firstly suffering an adductor injury in the pre-season, before succumbing to a head knock in Round 3.
In other injury news, Tom Sparrow is still a few weeks away as he continues to recover from his knee injury.
“He’s just had some swelling in that knee recently, but it has come down, so he will look to start running again later this week,” Misson said.
“We will potentially look to get him up for VFL finals if they make it. It’s probably not a setback, he just started upping the ante with his rehab and his knee started swelling up a bit, so we just pulled him back.”
Mitch Hannan (groin) and Charlie Spargo (calf) both missed Casey’s game last weekend as they battled some leg soreness, but neither should be sidelined too long, with Hannan set to be tested later in the week.
Steven May will also be “touch and go” to return from that hamstring complaint suffered against the Eagles two weeks ago.
While it has been a tough season on the injury front for the Dees, they should benefit from the inclusion of Jake Melksham in Round 20, as he, Marty Hore and Billy Stretch all played in the VFL on Sunday.
“They all pulled up well, so we’ll be looking for them to play again this week,” Misson said.
Check out the full injury list below:
Injury List
Mitch Hannan | Groin – Test
Steven May | Hamstring – Test
Charlie Spargo | Calf – 1 week
Tom Sparrow | Knee – 2-3 weeks
Aaron vandenBerg | Foot – TBC
Jeff Garlett | Shoulder – Season
Kade Kolodjashnij | Head – Season
Tom McDonald | Knee – Season
Aaron Nietschke | Knee – Season
Joel Smith | Groin – Season
Sam Weideman | Jaw – Season
Guy Walker | Shoulder – Indefinite
