Melbourne are confident Clayton Oliver will be back for their huge King’s Birthday match, while Marcus Bontempelli will have to play through pain. See the latest injury news here.
Melbourne believes star ball winner Clayton Oliver will prove his fitness for their mid-season “grand final” against Collingwood in a King’s Birthday blockbuster.
Oliver completed a significant running session on Saturday that has him well primed to complete a full week of training leading into that clash.
The Demons will miss swingman Tom McDonald for four to six weeks despite successful surgery to remove some floating bone in his ankle.
But Oliver will have had 24 days to recover from a hamstring strain that has already seen him miss two weeks.
The Demons initially believed Oliver might have suffered tendon damage in his hamstring but scans confirmed minor muscle damage, with the best-and-fairest winner running three days after the hamstring episode.
While Melbourne would not risk their brilliant star in the week leading into the bye they are confident he has done enough work to be ready.
“He has got ten days to get it right. He will be playing,” coach Simon Goodwin said after the win over Carlton.
Oliver said after that fitness session on Saturday he had pulled up well and was hopeful he would be picked if the match committee could find a spot for him.
Jake Bowey was concussed so will miss a week, while James Harmes has been offered a one-week suspension for his hit high on Matthew Cottrell in the clash against Carlton.
But the Demons have a largely healthy list, with James Jordan winning 32 possessions in the VFL on Saturday.
Josh Schache kicked four goals and Ben Brown kicked 2.1 but with Jacob Van Rooyen crashing packs the Demons are happy to play a more mobile forward line that includes Joel Smith and Bailey Fritsch and a resting ruckman.
Star interceptor Jake Lever told SEN Radio the Demons were prepared for the battle against the white-hot Pies, who will have Jordan De Goey suspended and Beau McCreery likely missing with an ankle complaint.
“They are the in form side of the competition,” he said.
They play an exciting way, even as a football lover I love watching them play but I think it’s going to be a great challenge and we are already looking forward to it. It’s already sold out,” he said.
“I mentioned to some of the young boys after the game that it’s almost going to feel like a grand final. 95,000 (fans) there. The way they play, the way we play, it’s going to be a real arm wrestle with them and we are looking forward to the challenge because you want to come up against the best and right now they are the best.”
SORE DOGS
The Western Bulldogs expect star midfielders Marcus Bontempelli and Adam Treloar to take on Port Adelaide in a Friday night crunch match as the club considers a debut for mid-season draft selection Caleb Poulter.
Treloar limped off early in the loss to Geelong with a calf issue and threw his mouthguard down the race in rage but returned to play out the game.
He had believed he had torn his calf but Dogs medicos believe he instead received a knock to the calf and had immediately feared the worst given his injury history.
Treloar wasn’t booked in for Sunday scans and expects to train during the week then take on the Power in the massive home clash.
Bontempelli hyperextended his knee and while he returned to run out the game with knee heavily strapped he was tagged by Mark Blicavs and could not drag the Dogs over the line.
He will play against the Power but he has been in Brownlow Medal form after avoiding the kind of niggles that he had faced in recent seasons and will now have to play sore for the short-term future.
The Dogs are firmly entrenched in the eight but after consecutive losses to Gold Coast and Geelong face an in-form Port Adelaide riding a nine-game winning streak.
Ed Richards was in All Australian form but tore his hamstring and will likely miss two games _ and three games_ around the mid-season bye.
The Dogs selected former Collingwood mid Caleb Poulter as a running half back and he made his VFL debut for Footscray on Saturday.
While coach Luke Beveridge said the club would consider him as a Richards replacement, Hayden Crozier, Luke Cleary and Laitham Vandermeer are all contenders.
Poulter had 17 possessions for Footscray while Vandermeer has lately been playing off half back as the Dogs attempt to tap into his explosive speed.
DANGER BACK AFTER BYE
Geelong expects to call upon Patrick Dangerfield, Mitch Duncan and Max Holmes for its Friday clash against Port Adelaide after its mid-season bye.
The Cats knocked over the Dogs despite a decimated midfield but the reinforcements will return in a fortnight for the 6-6 Cats.
Dangerfield will have had six weeks to recover from a minor hamstring strain, while Holmes is back running after a meniscus issue and Duncan has been battling a low-grade hamstring injury.
The Cats expect intercept defender Esava Ratugolea (hamstring) to miss several more weeks after the bye, while Cam Guthrie (toe) might only return in the last month of the home-and-away season.
Originally published as AFL round 12: All the latest injury updates and news from the weekend of action