The Bulldogs are working through a number of management options with injured forward Sam Darcy, who sustained an impaction fracture in Sunday night’s win over St Kilda.
Scans yesterday cleared Darcy of an ACL rupture, but did confirm a fracture and some ligament damage.
“In the first quarter of the game, Sam was involved in a marking contest and landed awkwardly,” Head of Sports Medicine Chris Bell said.
“On landing, his knee jammed back into hyper-extension. This mechanism has pinched the bones at the front of his knee joint together, while also overstretching the ligaments and soft tissue at the back of his knee.
“We are currently working through opinions and options on how to best manage Sam, and will update his return-to-play timeline in the coming days.”
The Dogs will also be without Lachie McNeil against the Giants this weekend.
“Lachie had the onset of some hamstring tightness late in the fourth quarter against St Kilda,” Bell said.
“Scans have confirmed he has a low-grade hamstring strain injury. This will prevent Lachie from playing in Round 7, but we expect this will be a short-term setback.”
In more positive news, the Bulldogs could regain Laith Vandermeer and James Harmes for their ANZAC Appeal Round clash at Manuka Oval.
“Laith has progressed well following the injury he had behind his knee,” Bell said.
“He completed a match parameters training session on the weekend and has pulled up well. We’ll put him through his paces this week to prove his fitness ahead of selection on Thursday.
“James continues to improve each day following the foot issue that led to him being subbed out of our Round 6 game against Brisbane.
“He is back up and running and is close to being symptom-free. He will need to tick some boxes for us throughout our main training session on Thursday before we can confirm his availability.”
In the VFL, Luke Kennedy has entered concussion protocols after being involved in a tackle which saw his head hit the ground.
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