Young gun Josh Goater is close to his return from an Achilles injury, set to integrate into match simulation in the coming weeks.

The 21-year-old established a place in the team in late 2023 and appeared set for a big 2024 before he suffered the injury late in the first match of the season.

"Josh has had a positive off-season and pre-season," head of performance Kevin White told NMFC Media.

"(In the) pre-Christmas phase of training he joined in with the main group, so at the minute we’re just cautious about ramping him up too quickly now that we’re getting into match simulation.

"He'll be getting into our skill-based drills with the main group and then we'll slowly drip feed him into the 18 v 18 match simulation across the next two to three weeks."

Key tall Callum Coleman-Jones has broken through in his recovery from the same injury, having recently returned to on-ground running.

The forward-ruck ruptured his Achilles in last year's Good Friday clash against Carlton and faced a setback later in the year, clouding his return timeline.

"(He's) been faultless, really," White said.

"With those Achilles injuries, it takes so long to get that calf bulk and strength back again. We envisage that it’ll be around May-June time before he’s back playing games.”

High-flier Zane Duursma (shoulder) has been cleared for full training and match simulation, while key back Kallan Dawson (groin) is in a similar stage to Comben and will continue to build his training volume.

Aidan Corr is also under an injury cloud having suffered a finger tendon injury in a tackling drill prior to the Gold Coast camp pre-Christmas. 

"He has been consolidating high levels of running and footy specific movement conditioning while he has been in a non-contact phase of this rehab program," White said.

"Next Friday he will have a review to get clearance to build up into full-contact training and match simulation in the next two to three weeks."

>>> For the full injury report on the Roos in rehab, watch this week's update provided by head of performance, Kevin White.

Injury List

Player	Injury	Estimated Return
7. Zane Duursma	Shoulder	Full main training return on 21/1
41. Jacob Konstanty	Foot	Full main training return on 21/1
23. Geordie Payne	Shin	Full main training return on 21/1
31. Josh Goater	Achilles	Full main training return in 1 week
18. Wil Dawson	Shoulder	Full main training return in 2-3 weeks
4. Aidan Corr	Finger	Full main training return in 2-3 weeks
33. Brayden George	Knee	April-June
21. Callum Coleman-Jones	Achilles	May-June

7. Zane Duursma

Injury: Shoulder

Est. Return: Full main training return on 21/1

41. Jacob Konstanty

Injury: Foot

Est. Return: Full main training return on 21/1

23. Geordie Payne

Injury: Shin

Est. Return: Full main training return on 21/1

31. Josh Goater

Injury: Achilles

Est. Return: Full main training return in 1 week

18. Wil Dawson

Injury: Shoulder

Est. Return: Full main training return in 2-3 weeks

4. Aidan Corr

Injury: Finger

Est. Return: Full main training return in 2-3 weeks

33. Brayden George

Injury: Knee

Est. Return: April-June

21. Callum Coleman-Jones

Injury: Achilles

Est. Return: May-June

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