Taylor Garner will miss North Melbourne’s clash with Brisbane this weekend, due to an ankle injury suffered against the Giants.
Playing in his fourth game of the season, Garner landed awkwardly on his left ankle late in the fourth quarter and had to be helped from the ground.
GM Football Brady Rawlings says the exciting forward won’t be considered for selection while the ankle is still swollen, but the outlook is good.
“He’s (Garner) got some ligament damage to the ankle … we’re hoping the swelling reduces a lot of the coming days,” Rawlings told North Media.
“We’re hoping to get him back moving and preparing for next week’s game.
“The plan at this stage is he just misses the one week, but he’ll be a test for next week as well.”
Jared Polec is still working towards a recall to the side, with the classy wingman increasing his loading ahead of a potential return in a few weeks’ time.
Rawlings says Polec participating in elements of main training is a great sign for his recovery.
“He’s doing some main training at the moment but not the full session … we’ll continue to be cautious in our approach with Jared given he’s had a few recurrences,” he said.
“He’ll still need a fair bit of main train over the next few weeks to be in a position to play.
“I’d say he’s probably still two to three weeks of main training away until he’s a legitimate chance.”
Aiden Bonar’s recovery from an ankle injury has taken a large step forward, with the midfielder-turned-defender getting stuck into conditioning work.
Bonar underwent surgery on his left ankle following Round 8’s clash with Collingwood, where he suffered a high grade medial ligament injury.
Rawlings says as it currently stands, his recovery is slightly ahead of schedule.
“‘Bon’ is going well, he’s running over ground at the moment, it’s now a matter of increasing his intensity over the coming weeks,” he said.
“He’s done well to get to the stage where he’s running over ground. He’s probably a session or two ahead of what we’d planned.
“He’s tracking really well at the moment.”
Should he make it through Thursday’s main training session Luke McDonald will make his long-awaited return from a pec injury.
Rawlings says the manner in which McDonald has approached his recovery means he’s ticked all the boxes for a comeback.
“He’s done everything possible to get himself into a position where he can play,” Rawlings said.
“We thought it might be this week or next week when he was available, so he’s done everything right to get himself fit which is terrific.
“With the injury he had he was still able to be conditioned through that whole time which was a positive for us, so he’s been training with the main group for many weeks now.
“He’s right to go as long as he gets through training.”
