It has been a tumultuous week for many AFL clubs, with a number of high-profile injuries sidelining a number of stars.
Greater Western Sydney stalwart Callan Ward will miss up to the first four rounds of the 2019 home and away season with a knee injury.
Ward will miss his first AFL game since 2014 after pulling up sore from last week’s pre-season game against Sydney, with scans revealing a strain to his lateral collateral ligament.
The Giants co-captain holds the club’s games record with 156 and has missed just five games since GWS’ inception in 2012.
Over at the Cattery, another gun’s consecutive games streak is set to end, with Geelong defender Zach Tuohy set to miss round one with a knee injury of his own.
After undergoing surgery following the 2018 season, Tuohy has been restricted to mostly cross-training over preseason as he overcomes cartilage damage and concede.
Across the border, Port Adelaide co-captain Ollie Wines has confirmed his absence from the Power’s round one side.
“Best case probably (round) two or three,” Wines told Channel Seven.
“It would take a miracle to play round one, there’s probably a little bit too much of a risk to push it that early given such a long year, so we’ll probably put it off at this stage.”
On Tuesday, the Crows confirmed that integral small defender Luke Brown would miss up to two months after being scheduled for surgery.
The surgery comes after Brown aggravated on ongoing issue with the plantaris tendon in his ankle, with Crows High Performance General Manager Matt Hass explaining that the ligament has been impairing Brown’s performance.
“He (Brown) had progressed well with conservative management of an ankle impingement issue through the preseason but with a full return to training, the plantaris tendon is now causing symptoms that limit him,” Hass told afc.com.au.
“He will undergo surgery to the tendon and ankle this week.”
In the West, Fremantle’s Griffin Logue has succumbed to a hamstring injury and is in serious doubt for the club’s season opener against North Melbourne.
Logue came off the ground late during the Dockers’ JLT matchup with Collingwood on Monday and the club has since confirmed that the defender has sustained a minor strain to the hamstring.
The 2019 AFL season begins in less than two weeks when Carlton play Richmond at the MCG next Thursday.