Western Bulldogs vice-captain Easton Wood has avoided surgery on his left hamstring, and is expected to be back running by the end of the week, according to head physiotherapist Chris Bell.
Wood left the ground in the first quarter of the weekend’s win over Brisbane after grabbing at his hamstring and did not return.
Speaking to westernbulldogs.com.au on Monday, Bell said that scans have confirmed Wood suffered a ‘high-grade’ hamstring injury, but the Club was optimistic that the defender could return to play finals if the Dogs were to qualify.
“We’ve worked through a process which has included specialist opinion and we’ve decided that the best form of management will be conservative management, and that Easton does not require surgery,” Bell said.
“We have started our rebab programming already and hope to have Easton running at the back end of this week.”
Two other weekend casualties, Jason Johannisen and Tory Dickson have both reported to the Club on Monday in good shape, and Bell said both were a chance to play against the Giants on Friday night providing they get through the week.
Johannisen was a late withdrawal from Saturday’s clash with the Lions are suffering hamstring tightness in the warm-up, and it was decided it was not worth a risk, Bell said.
“Jason is a real high speed athlete so we weren’t prepared to take any risk with these symptoms so we withdrew him from the game.”
“JJ’s come in really well today and we’ll work through a process with him this week to determine if he’s available to play this weekend.”
It’s a similar story for Dickson, who suffered quad tightness in the final kick of the day during last Thursday’s training session at VU Whitten Oval.
“We were forced to withdraw Tory from availability on the weekend… [he’s] come in really well today though on our assessment and we’ll go through a process this week to determine if he’s back into full training and if he’s able to play.”
The news is better for livewire forward Jake Stringer, however, who looks set to make his return from a hamstring injury.
“Jake has continued to show great progress on his hamstring injury. He completed a game-like training session on the weekend and has pulled up really well,” Bell said.
“If Jake ticks out boxes this week with training he’ll be available to play.”
Veteran defender Dale Morris continues to battle back from a wrist fracture, with the Club optimistic of a return in ‘the next couple of weeks.’
“He’s completed some really good football sessions and we’ve continued to progress his contact.
“We’re working closely with the surgeon to progress him week by week but really optimistic that we’re going to see him back in the next couple of weeks.”
Mitch Honeychurch is also expected to be available after recovering from a facial infection.
