GIANTS star Lachie Whitfield is available for selection to take on the Crows at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
The leader hurt his liver in a training incident almost 12 weeks ago exactly and has undergone a rigorous rehabilitation to be ready to play in round seven.
GIANTS Head of Medical Cullan Ball said:
“Lachie had a decent contact mechanism to that side of his ribcage.
“Initially we were just monitoring him and then he developed some shoulder pain which is a bit of a giveaway for a liver injury.
“It’s not one that you see all the time. With the scans, we were looking to see the amount of blood surrounding his liver reduce.
“As that started to come down, we saw him able to do a lot more work in training and lot more running and conditioning work.
“Full marks to Lachie, he’s been great with his rehab and been really diligent. He’s a tough kid and everyone’s really looking forward to seeing him get back out there and display those traits on the weekend.”
All Australian defender Nick Haynes will miss two-to-four weeks after suffering a hamstring injury in Friday night’s loss to the Bulldogs at Manuka Oval.
“Nick’s just got a hamstring strain, we expect that he’ll miss likely to be a couple of weeks,” Ball said.
“We’ll just see how quickly he settles and how quickly we can get him back into training.”
Xavier O’Halloran (shoulder), Sam Reid (hamstring) and Cameron Fleeton (concussion) will all need to pass fitness tests but the trio are expected to be available for this week’s games.
The GIANTS take on the Crows on Saturday at Adelaide Oval at 2:10pm while the VFL side play Southport at Blacktown International Sportspark at 12:05pm on Sunday.
Injury List - April 27
Xavier O’Halloran |
Shoulder |
Test |
Cameron Fleeton |
Concussion |
Test |
Sam Reid |
Hamstring |
Test |
Daniel Lloyd |
Quad |
1 week |
Nick Haynes |
Hamstring |
2-4 weeks |
Tom Hutchesson |
Hamstring |
2-4 weeks |
Phil Davis |
Calf |
4 weeks |
Adam Kennedy |
Shoulder |
4-6 weeks |
Braydon Preuss |
Shoulder |
6 weeks |
Jake Stein |
Thumb |
6-8 weeks |
Matt de Boer |
Hamstring |
7 weeks |
Stephen Coniglio |
Ankle |
7-9 weeks |