In other injury news to come out of Saturday night’s game, Captain Brad Johnson is expected to miss the next 2 weeks after re-aggravating his Achilles and defender Dale Morris will also miss the next 2 games after injuring his shoulder.
General Manager of Football James Fantasia said today that while the news is obviously disappointing the Club is confident it can still achieve success in 2010.
“To lose a player of Adam’s quality this close to the Finals is obviously disappointing. At this stage the best case scenario is that Adam will return late in September and while this is unlikely, we have not written off Adam’s season yet.
“Unfortunately ‘Johnno’ has also re-aggravated his Achilles but we are very confident that he will be available for selection in Week 2 of the Finals, as will Dale Morris,” Fantasia said.
Despite the setback, the Club remains optimistic of its chances heading into September.
“It is clearly not ideal to be losing quality players at this stage of the year, but we have been challenged on a number of fronts so far in 2010 and we are confident we will respond well to this. We are still missing Shaun Higgins and Easton Wood, but this provides a terrific opportunity for some of our young players to really step up on the big stage.
“We believe our list is in a very strong position when you consider the young players coming through. We have been very pleased with Jarrad Grant’s development and I think we have unearthed a terrific prospect there for the future. You could put Liam Jones in the same boat as well, he has really taken his opportunity this year and continues to impress at the AFL level.
“Jordan Roughead’s ability to match it with some of the competitions best big men has been impressive and Brodie Moles has come off the Rookie List and added extra depth to the midfield. You cannot forget about Easton Wood either, he has been terrific off half back and while he will miss this week, we are looking forward to him playing a role for us in the Finals.
“We are not shying away from the fact that we have a challenging period ahead of us but we have every confidence that the side will respond to this. We have a very resilient group and I know that we will relish the challenge that has been put in front of us.” Fantasia said.
