Western Bulldogs livewire forward Cody Weightman has been ruled out of this weekend’s round one clash against Melbourne on Saturday night. 

Weightman has experienced some groin soreness over the past fortnight, missing the pre-season clash against the Kangaroos in early March.

“After having a really solid pre-season, Cody experienced some groin muscle overload two to three weeks ago,” Head of Sports Medicine Chris Bell said. 

“These injuries can be notoriously volatile and persistent, so to make sure we prepare him for the long season ahead, we will need to be patient to wait for these overload symptoms to settle down.”

“We will look to confirm Cody’s return to playing plan when he is symptom free.”

Utility Dom Bedendo remains in a similar position to Weightman, battling a groin complaint and will be assessed in the coming week. 

Arthur Jones will be another to miss the opening rounds of the season, suffering a groin injury late last week.

“Unfortunately, after getting a taste of AFL football in the practice game against North Melbourne, Arthur Jones has suffered a groin muscle strain,” Bell said.

“This won’t keep Arthur out for long, we are expecting him to be putting his hand up for selection in the first few rounds of the season.”

Ryan Gardner is recovering well from surgery earlier in the pre-season and is on track to return in the early rounds of the home-and-away campaign.

“Gardner had a fall during a football session and cracked a bone in his elbow,” Bell said.

“We decided that surgical management would accelerate his recovery. This surgery was successfully completed a couple of weeks ago.”

“He will remain in a brace for another week and we expect to see Ryan back playing footy in the next 3-4 weeks.”

Laith Vandermeer is continuing his rehabilitation from a crack in his fibula bone, tracking for a round six return in the red, white and blue.  

“During training a number of weeks ago, Laith received a heavy knock to his lower leg,” Bell said.

“This direct contact caused a small crack in the fibula bone. We are optimistic that this bone will heal in the next two weeks and we can get him back up and running. 

“At this stage we expect Laith to be back playing football around rounds five to six.”

Tim O’Brien (hamstring) and Roarke Smith (foot) remain in the rehab group, with their training plans expected to put them into playing calculations a month into the season. 

Injury List

Arthur Jones (groin): 1-2 weeks 
Ryan Gardner (elbow): 3-4 weeks
Tim O’Brien (hamstring): 4-5 weeks
Laith Vandermeer (leg): 4-6 weeks
Roarke Smith (foot): 4-6 weeks
Cody Weightman (groin): TBC
Dom Bedendo (groin): TBC