3 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said:

They’ve all had their moments and Jeffo hasn’t been the least of them. Checkers and JvR are locks forward for me and if we go with another tall I favour Jeffo. Luca is too similar to JvR and AJ isn’t there yet in my book but it’s line ball. Down back Disco is a lock and I think Petty and Lever are the other two. But you wouldn’t worry if May and Tmac were picked.

To me, Lever and Turner are too similar to play together and I would prefer to have another more defensively minded tall if we are playing three of them. Unless Lever has finally learnt how to defend over the five months.

Lots of injured but only 1 longer term, whether this is bad or not will be decided by if these niggles keep happening or if they clear up over the next month

2 hours ago, Garbo said:

Lots of injured but only 1 longer term, whether this is bad or not will be decided by if these niggles keep happening or if they clear up over the next month

Yep.

Another factor is how many of the players who have had short term injuries have still been able to do cardio work.

For example, it's not great Max broke a finger, but at least he can maintain his aerobic fitness, eg on the bike or running laps.

22 minutes ago, binman said:

Yep.

Another factor is how many of the players who have had short term injuries have still been able to do cardio work.

For example, it's not great Max broke a finger, but at least he can maintain his aerobic fitness, eg on the bike or running laps.

I think we can be confident he will once again be the best ruckman in the comp. I seriously doubt there is much he could learn in the pre season.

On 14/01/2026 at 22:51, DeeSpencer said:

It's really not that bad, and most clubs have somewhere between 5-15 out at any one time. 11 isn't great but is pretty standard and not many are to best 22 players.

We have 1 new bad injury since preseason started with was Bowser.

We've got 4 guys coming back from injuries last season in AMW, McAdam, Mihocek and Matthews. AMW and Mihocek have done a fair bit of main drills.

We've got 3 collision injuries to Gawn, Laurie and Campbell. Those are going to happen. Laurie and Gawn's don't sound serious. Sounds like TC's is, but that happens.

2 guys battling overuse injuries in Viney and Henderson, both since last year. Viney hopefully winning his battle.

1 short term soft tissue in Sharp.

Your first para says it all DS. The fact that Viney might not play till April is no big deal. He is into his 30's and it's a long season I would rather him be in form in June. There are two in that list who will be missed the rest are depth players at best. It also gives a few players who could not get a game under Goodwin and we have bought in players through the draft etc who will step up some earlier than they might have expected. I doubt we will trouble the premiership this year but I think it is not being overly optimistic to expected to finish 8th or 9th

On 16/01/2026 at 19:15, old dee said:

Your first para says it all DS. The fact that Viney might not play till April is no big deal. He is into his 30's and it's a long season I would rather him be in form in June. There are two in that list who will be missed the rest are depth players at best. It also gives a few players who could not get a game under Goodwin and we have bought in players through the draft etc who will step up some earlier than they might have expected. I doubt we will trouble the premiership this year but I think it is not being overly optimistic to expected to finish 8th or 9th

I'd add that with Viney injured and on light duties will have positive impact on other injured players that he is aroubd. His leadership and professionalism is a huge asset and it will also provide more opportunity for Steele to perform a similar on field role. I'm also not sure if both Viney and Steele together fit into our best 22, we cannot play them both on ball with Pickett, Langford, Windsor, Rivers and whoever else i've missed running through there.

Any cool injuries to report?

At ease boys.

On 16/01/2026 at 18:52, old dee said:

I think we can be confident he will once again be the best ruckman in the comp. I seriously doubt there is much he could learn in the pre season.

It's not about Maxy not being able to work on ruck craft, it's the extent to which his injury impacts his physical preparation and conditioning during the preseason and therefore his season.

Players get one opportunity to build their aerobic and strength base - their preseason.

Each player has a bespoke, granulat conditioning program with specific kpis that is planned to the minute. Any injury disrupts that program.

So whilst Max's broken finger isn't a massive deal in the scheme of things as he can still run and maintain/build his tank his program has been disrupted - eg he likely missed a session for surgery, can't do things like swimming and his weights/strength program will have been disrupted (ie can't do any weights or strength work requiring both hands).

The Premiers set up their flag in the preseason.

1 hour ago, binman said:

It's not about Maxy not being able to work on ruck craft, it's the extent to which his injury impacts his physical preparation and conditioning during the preseason and therefore his season.

Players get one opportunity to build their aerobic and strength base - their preseason.

Each player has a bespoke, granulat conditioning program with specific kpis that is planned to the minute. Any injury disrupts that program.

So whilst Max's broken finger isn't a massive deal in the scheme of things as he can still run and maintain/build his tank his program has been disrupted - eg he likely missed a session for surgery, can't do things like swimming and his weights/strength program will have been disrupted (ie can't do any weights or strength work requiring both hands).

The Premiers set up their flag in the preseason.

I don't disagree with any of that but didn't Max miss 6 weeks of pre season last year and then went onto have one of his best seasons ever? I'd be surprised if this injury impacts his performance at all.

Melksham also had a bunch of time on the sidelines and proceeded to play some of his best ever games last year.

Meanwhile blokes like McVee and Kolt had interrupted pre seasons last year and went onto have poor seasons.

The best teams no doubt have the best pre seasons but some players can seemingly get away with a poor pre season.

On 15/01/2026 at 06:49, Roost it far said:

If Viney’s Achilles injury is anything like what Spargo suffered he won’t recover until he has an op. I’m not convinced we’ll see much of Viney’s best this year.

Yeah likewise! Re Melksham he looked pretty laboured last Friday

Edited January 20Jan 20 by picket fence

Just now, picket fence said:

Yeah likewise!

I think Steele might turn out to be an upgrade. I’m a Viney fan but think Father Time may have him in his clutches.

1 hour ago, Roost it far said:

I think Steele might turn out to be an upgrade. I’m a Viney fan but think Father Time may have him in his clutches.

Agree

State of origin is just going to be 18 clubs stressfully watching and hoping more of their players don’t get injured 😅

5 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Meanwhile blokes like McVee and Kolt had interrupted pre seasons last year and went onto have poor seasons.

The best teams no doubt have the best pre seasons but some players can seemingly get away with a poor pre season.

Age. Once you have 10 or more pre-seasons under your belt missing sessions or slabs of pre-season becomes less critical. On the other hand, with players in their first few seasons you sometimes feel that one or two weeks out in January and their season is shot.

5 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I don't disagree with any of that but didn't Max miss 6 weeks of pre season last year and then went onto have one of his best seasons ever? I'd be surprised if this injury impacts his performance at all.

Melksham also had a bunch of time on the sidelines and proceeded to play some of his best ever games last year.

Meanwhile blokes like McVee and Kolt had interrupted pre seasons last year and went onto have poor seasons.

The best teams no doubt have the best pre seasons but some players can seemingly get away with a poor pre season.

Melk and Max last season make my point - which when a player has to rehab during the preseason alot depends on the nature of the injury in terms of how much of an impact the injury had.

IIRC both Max and Melk were able to keep running and cycling- ie weren't off legs. So coukd maintain their aerobic conditioning.

Whereas kolt and mcvee I think had injuries that impacted their ability to run. And never got close to optimal fitness, particularly kolt (who by the by I think needs to pull his finger out if he wants to make it as AFL player- from what I glean from track reports he seems to have a good preseason thus far. I hope he doubles down I'm the next 2 months).

Edited January 20Jan 20 by binman

5 hours ago, Roost it far said:

I think Steele might turn out to be an upgrade. I’m a Viney fan but think Father Time may have him in his clutches.

4 hours ago, picket fence said:

Agree

Sadly I must concur with roost and mr fence.

Anything we can squeeze out of JV7 on the field the next year or so will be a huge bonus - however his leadership off the field will remain immense, and something for which we should all be eternally grateful.

Thanks JV7 - show us what you have left in the tank. I know you won't leave anything behind.l

Pre-season has been a complete disaster on the injury front, with an abundance of injuries ravaging clubs over the summer.

One which has come to the fore in the lead up to the season is that of Melbourne's Jack Viney, who is said to be ‘miles off’ returning from an Achilles injury.

According to the Demons, the vice-captain was meant to return to training by the end of January after dealing with Achilles soreness.

But with latest reports suggesting Viney was only able to walk laps at Melbourne match simulation on Friday, SEN’s Sam Edmund is certain that the 31-year-old isn’t anywhere near being ready to start the season proper.

“We reported on SEN back in December that veteran midfielder Jack Viney was dealing with Achilles soreness during the pre-season,” Edmund said on SEN Captain’s Run.

“The club told me at that time that they'd placed Jack on modified light duties, obviously a rehab program until the end of the year as part of the attempt to manage that injury.

“It was explained to me at the time there was every expectation that Jack Viney would return from the Christmas break and train fully. That has not happened, clearly.

“On January 14, the club released a statement saying that he would be back in full training by the end of January, and now reports from training this morning from Channel Nine’s Trent Kniese among others, is that Jack Viney would appear miles off at the moment.

“Today at match sim he walked a few laps with Tom Campbell, before sitting on the bench.

“So, clearly that Achilles injury is worse than first thought. The timeline keeps being pushed back and back and back, so that's a concern for Melbourne.”

Andy Moniz-Wakefield will look to shake up the Dees' selection panel as he returns from an ACL injury suffered during a practice match in 2025. A half-back flanker who, prior to his knee injury, looked a chance to play regular footy across the season, Moniz-Wakefield will bring speed and ball use to a new-look Demon outfit. Jake Bowey will miss a majority of 2026 with his foot injury suffered during pre-season, Harry Sharp (hamstring) is a sniff for the early stages. Max Gawn (finger) looks set to feature in Origin, while Jack Henderson (sacrum) is pushing to return in the opening weeks. Jack Viney (Achilles) isn't close to a return despite the club initially hoping he'd join full training by the end of February.

Injury list
Jake Bowey (foot)
Max Gawn (finger)
Jack Henderson (sacrum stress fracture)
Bailey Laurie (fractured hand)
Brody Mihocek (toe)
Harry Sharp (hamstring)
Jack Viney (achilles)

@Matt Demon reported that Culley left the field in the Match SIM with a suspected shoulder/arm injury cradling his arm in his jumper as he left the ground and headed to the rooms.

Can they not do a surgery to get Viney going? Or is it too late?

21 minutes ago, GawnOfTheDead said:

Can they not do a surgery to get Viney going? Or is it too late?

I’m going to guess it’s a similar injury to Spargo’s Achilles which they tried to heal without surgery due to the 12 month recovery from the op. Looks like they’ve done the same with Jack. Not a great situation for him to find himself in.

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

@Matt Demon reported that Culley left the field in the Match SIM with a suspected shoulder/arm injury cradling his arm in his jumper as he left the ground and headed to the rooms.

Oh boy

7 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

I’m going to guess it’s a similar injury to Spargo’s Achilles which they tried to heal without surgery due to the 12 month recovery from the op. Looks like they’ve done the same with Jack. Not a great situation for him to find himself in.

Ah, makes sense. Wonder when he copped it, if he should have gone under the knife straight away to maybe have a chance. Sounds like he won’t play a game. Hope I am wrong.

Ensure that the club sends them flowers, don’t want any players doing a Petracca.

Viney and foot injuries - name a more iconic duo.

6 minutes ago, Supermercado said:

Viney and foot injuries - name a more iconic duo.

Achilles isn’t a foot injury?