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AFL legend Lance Franklin will return for Sydney’s clash with Richmond in what will almost certainly be the veteran forward’s last appearance at the MCG.
Franklin has missed the Swans’ last three games with knee soreness but will be a welcome inclusion for Thursday night’s must-win match.
Melbourne forward Bayley Fritsch faces close to two months on the sidelines after requiring surgery on a fractured foot as the Demons eye a return for Clayton Oliver.
Collingwood spearhead Brody Mihocek will miss Friday’s big clash with the Western Bulldogs through hamstring tightness.
After blowing a golden opportunity in drawing with Geelong last Friday night, Sydney (6-1-8) need to keep winning to be any chance of finishing inside the top eight.
The last game Sydney played at the MCG, Franklin was booed by Magpies fans every time he touched the ball in scenes that bewildered the AFL community.
Steven May of the Demons and Lance Franklin of the Swans compete for the ball. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
The 36-year-old has been involved in two premierships at the famous ground, while playing in a further four grand-final defeats with the Swans and Hawthorn.
Franklin, who has played 350 games and kicked 1059 goals, will almost certainly end his legendary career when the Swans’ campaign ends, after 19 AFL seasons.
To play at the MCG again Sydney would have to make an unlikely late season run and play a final at the ground.
Franklin will replace young tall Joel Amartey, who will be managed.
A hamstring injury kept Amartey sidelined for seven weeks and the Swans say they wanted to take a “proactive approach” with the 23-year-old.
Star midfielder Chad Warner (calf) will miss at least another game after sitting out the match against the Cats.
Melbourne gun Fritsch hurt his left foot in an early marking contest in the Demons’ loss to GWS on Sunday.
Fritsch, who has booted 29 goals this season, will miss seven-to-eight weeks in a further blow to the Dees’ misfiring attack.
“He had a little bit of a roll of his ankle and that has resulted in a fracture in his foot,” club doctor Laura Lallenec told Melbourne’s website.
“He actually underwent surgery this morning and that’s gone really well.
“We’re expecting a return to play of approximately seven to eight weeks at this stage, but we’ll see how he goes.”
Oliver has missed five games with a lingering hamstring issue but the Demons are confident he will face St Kilda.
Defender Michael Hibberd (kidney) is two weeks away.
Collingwood won’t risk Mihocek while Brayden Maynard (shoulder) will be assessed.
Luckless Essendon defender Zach Reid is unlikely to play again this season after undergoing hamstring surgery following a re-aggravation of a previous injury.
The former high draft pick has played just eight games across three campaigns.
Adelaide AFLW premiership player Heather Anderson is the first known professional female athlete to be diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Anderson, a member of the Crows’ flag-winning team in 2017, took her own life in November last year at the age of 28.
The Australian Sports Brain Bank has diagnosed Anderson as having had low-stage CTE and three lesions in her brain, according to the ABC. The bank’s director Professor Michael Buckland said the diagnosis, reported in the Springer Medical Journal, is significant.
“While we’ve been finding CTE in males for quite some time, I think this is really the tip of the iceberg,” he told the ABC’s 7.30 Report. “And it’s a real red flag that now women are participating (in contacts sports) just as men are, that we are going to start seeing more and more CTE cases in women.”
Heather Anderson. (Photo by Will Russell/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Anderson’s father, Brian Anderson, said the diagnosis was “a surprise but not a surprise”.
“Now that this report has been published, I’m sort of trying to think about how it might play out for female sportspeople everywhere,” he told the ABC.
“Suicide, it’s a tough one, it’s a tough way to see your child die, it’s tough to see your child die anyway.
“But suicide causes you to re-examine everything, to look at every interaction.”
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Key defender Jacob Weitering has been cleared of his striking charge in a major boost for Carlton ahead of Sunday’s AFL match against Fremantle.
Weitering was booked during the third term of Sunday’s win over Hawthorn at the MCG for striking ruckman Lloyd Meek off the ball.
But the match review verdict was that while “Weitering makes contact with his left hand to Meek, any high contact made was negligible”.
The Blues have won their past two games to remain in touch with the top eight ahead of this weekend’s away game against the Dockers.
Fremantle are a game outside eighth spot after their loss to the Western Bulldogs and star Nathan Fyfe might be out for the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his left foot.
Six players were fined for a melee during St Kilda’s tight win over West Coast.
Josh Dunkley looks set to miss the clash with West Coast as his Brisbane Lions keep a wary eye on a crucial two weeks beyond their match against the AFL battlers.
Dunkley didn’t train at Springfield on Tuesday and had his right calf strapped in a compression garment.
The midfielder exited last Thursday’s win over Richmond after three quarters, saying post-game he thought he had corked his calf.
Small forwards Callum Ah Chee (concussion) and Lincoln McCarthy (suspended) will also miss Saturday’s date with the 1-14 Eagles.
Veterans Dayne Zorko, Daniel Rich and Jack Gunston all trained on Tuesday but are no guarantees of playing, the latter two in a training block and Zorko being managed after a string of soft-tissue injuries this year.
Brisbane play Melbourne at the MCG and Geelong at the Gabba in the two weeks that follow the visit of the Eagles. They are likely to need five wins from their remaining eight games to secure a top-four berth.
At 11-4, the Lions are third and two wins behind the top two of Collingwood and Port Adelaide (both 13-2).
“We’re previewing West Coast, we’re not looking at Melbourne at all,” Lions vice-captain Hugh McCluggage said.
“But we understand that West Coast, Melbourne Geelong (are) three games that can really either set our season up or put us back with a pack.
“So we understand that that’s a really important block of footy for us.
“We see the teams that win the premiership most years, they all start in different ways.
“But the common thing is that they build the last few rounds and then into the finals. So that’s a really important thing to do.”
Brisbane have the cattle pushing for a chance, with Deven Robertson enjoying midfield time after Dunkley was substituted and Kai Lohmann a chance of returning to replace McCarthy.
West Coast’s percentage improved to 49 after a tight loss to St Kilda last week that followed a 171-point belting from the Swans.
“Nothing changes for us,” McCluggage said of the Eagles’ plight.
“A lot of our players have been in that position before … in 2017 we saw it as an opportunity to knock them off, an opportunity to test yourself against the best.
“It’s exactly the position we were in.”
Western Bulldogs recruit Dunkley has proved a prime midfield addition thanks to his defensive presence alongside ball-magnet Lachie Neale.
He has averaged 25.53 disposals, 6.73 tackles, 5.33 clearances and 13.47 contested possessions so far this season.
“We’re hoping that he can get up but if he doesn’t, Dev Robertson played in the midfield when (Dunkley) went down in the last quarter and did some really nice things,” McCluggage said.
“We’ve got lots of options playing in the VFL and lots of depth. You’re going to lose players, but hopefully we can cover that.”
Port Adelaide ruckman Scott Lycett will miss at least one game because of a knee injury which forced Dante Visentini into the most sudden of AFL debuts.
The Power say Lycett will miss up to two games after pulling out of Port’s four-point win against Essendon literally at the last minute when troubled by a small cartilage tear in a knee during pre-game warm-ups.
Melbourne-born Visentini got strapped and was given his debut jumper by a property steward, only for Lycett to declare himself fit.
But leaving the warm-up, Lycett changed his mind, though Visentini had already changed out of his playing strip and returned to the grandstand.
Visentini went back to the rooms to change and came on midway through the opening quarter.
“On one hand it might have been good for him because he didn’t have any of those nerves and didn’t have to think about it too much,” Port assistant coach Chad Cornes said on Monday.
“But on the other hand, you miss the pre-game ceremony when you have got your parents and your family there and you get your guernsey presented, you don’t get to enjoy that build up of a normal debut game.
“But things happen, you have got to adapt on the fly.”
Visentini’s mother and father were also caught out. “His parents got there by a quarter time, they were out for dinner somewhere and then their car ran out of petrol on the way,” Cornes said.
“So it’s a bit of chaos but, all in all, a day I’m sure he will remember forever.”
Port substituted Visentini, a 20-year-old recruited with pick 56 at the 2021 national draft, at three quarter-time.
“We subbed him out, it was a bit rude looking back on it, wasn’t it?” Cornes said.
“But he’s a guy with a great attitude, great mindset and he took that really well.”
© AAP
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