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Luckless Gold Coast defender Connor Budarick’s 2022 AFL season is over with the Suns confirming the 21-year-old suffered an ACL injury during last Saturday’s loss to Collingwood.
Budarick went down after a one-on-one marking contest in the fourth quarter of the five-point loss to the Magpies before being helped off the field.
Scans have confirmed Budarick has suffered a rupture of the ACL in his right knee, the same injury he suffered in round two of the 2021 season.
“We’re all behind Connor as he begins his recovery and we know he will attack his rehab with full conviction as he has done in the past,” Suns’ head physio Lindsay Bull said.
After signing a three-year contract extension in April, the Suns academy product returned to the AFL later that month for the Queensland derby against Brisbane.
The Magpies’ match was his ninth game of the season and came after he’d only just recovered from a hamstring injury.
Budarick joins an increasing injury list of Suns’ defenders with Wil Powell (ankle) and Lachie Weller (knee) already sidelined for the season.
Suns coach Stuart Dew will be hoping Jy Farrar will be able to return for this Saturday’s clash against Richmond having missed the Collingwood game due to the AFL’s health and safety protocols.
The Suns are also assessing the fitness of small forward Ben Ainsworth after he suffered an ankle injury late against the Magpies in the same marking contest that forced Collingwood star Darcy Moore off the field on a stretcher with a knee injury.
Jack Lukosius is also set to train fully with the team this week after making a successful comeback from a PCL injury in the VFL last weekend.
Big boost for the Dogs ahead of Sydney clash
The Western Bulldogs expect to regain their No.1 ruckman Tim English for Friday night’s big AFL clash with Sydney at the SCG.
Coach Luke Beveridge also is confident that star onballer Adam Treloar will play after he pulled up with hamstring tightness in last week’s loss to Brisbane.
“He should be fine … he’ll train today and gear up for the game,” Beveridge said of Treloar.
English has missed the last two games because of delayed concussion symptoms.
Defender Ed Richards is another player set to return after a game out because of concussion.
“It’s a big session today for us and they’ll get through, they’ll be available,” Beveridge said before Tuesday morning’s session at Whitten Oval.
The 41-point loss to the Lions left last year’s grand finalists a game outside the top eight amid a challenging run of game against the Swans, St Kilda, Melbourne, Geelong and Fremantle – all above the Dogs on the ladder.
But Beveridge remains upbeat, saying after the Brisbane game “I won’t stop believing.”
He noted on Tuesday that there are plenty of games left and the Bulldogs remain in charge of their destiny.
“Nothing’s missing – there’s a third of the season, or just under, still to go and you’ve got to remember that,” Beveridge said.
“Our form line has been relatively strong in recent times, we’ve just been beaten by a good side.
“The alarm bells aren’t ringing.”
Hipwood to explain umpire incident
Brisbane Lions forward Eric Hipwood is heading to the AFL tribunal to explain his role in an incident involving an opponent and an umpire.
Hipwood was referred directly to the tribunal after he pushed the Western Bulldogs’ Ryan Gardner during the third quarter of their round 16 match.
Gardner then crashed into umpire Jacob Mollison.
AFL match review officer Michael Christian didn’t grade the push and Hipwood can’t accept any early plea for the incident.
It appears Hipwood’s defence on Tuesday night will centre around Gardner deliberately moving into his path to block him from running his desired pattern, leading to the push.
Brisbane head of football Danny Daly said the incident was unremarkable outside of the consequential umpire contact.
“We are putting a case together to show what happened in this instance is a normal forward line pattern … it is just unfortunate it happened to be the case that there was an umpire,” he told RadioTAB.
“It is one of those incidents that probably hasn’t occurred in terms of a player being pushed into an umpire and both going to ground.
It’s put umpire contact back on the agenda, but Hipwood appears unlikely to receive a lengthy ban like GWS star Toby Greene’s six-match suspension for bumping an umpire in last year’s elimination final.
Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said if it could be proved Hipwood had designed to create the umpire contact he should receive a long ban, but he believed that wasn’t the case.
“If they feel there’s something in it, it needs to be bigger than (one match) … it’s either nothing, or more,” he told Fox Footy.
“I think that he’ll be cleared on that.”
Former St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt said there was “no way” Hipwood could be suspended.
“The burden of proof is on the AFL to prove he deliberately pushed him into the umpire, and how can you prove that?” he told Fox Footy.
“To, in a split second, come to the conclusion that if I push my opponent right now, the umpire is coming across, they’re gonna hit … no.”
© AAP
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