Injury-hit Geelong send Stengle, Stanley for surgery
Shayne Hope and Justin Chadwick |
Geelong’s return to form has been soured by confirmation premiership stars Tyson Stengle and Rhys Stanley will undergo surgery that will put them out of action for several weeks.
Scans have confirmed All-Australian goal-sneak Stengle fractured his left arm and ruckman Stanley fractured his right eye socket during Sunday’s win over West Coast.
Both will undergo surgery this week, with the club expecting them to be sidelined “for the medium term”.
“There’s not a team out there that won’t have to endure these issues,” Cats coach Chris Scott said after Sunday’s 47-point victory.
“It’s part of the trick, I guess, over a long season where the competition is just so even and every game is potentially really challenging, the depth of your squad becomes a really important factor.”
After starting the season 0-3, Geelong have bounced back with convincing victories over Hawthorn and the Eagles.
They host Sydney at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night in the two sides’ first meeting since last year’s grand final.
West Coast’s injury crisis deepened at the weekend, with star veteran Elliot Yeo (groin) and first-year midfielder Elijah Hewett (ankle) both sent off for scans.
Yeo, who battled osteitis pubis in 2020 and 2021, was unable to play out the loss to Geelong after injuring his groin.
Hewett suffered an ankle injury in the opening moments of West Coast’s WAFL hit-out on the weekend.
Defender Harry Edwards (fractured wrist), Isiah Winder (knee) and Tom Cole (ankle) were also added to the club’s lengthy injury list last week.
They join experienced players Jeremy McGovern (hamstring), Jamie Cripps (ankle), Liam Ryan (hamstring) and Nic Naitanui (achilles) on the sidelines.
Campbell Chesser (knee), Dom Sheed (throat) and Jack Williams (spleen) are also unavailable, but skipper Luke Shuey (hamstring) and ruckman Callum Jamieson (ankle) could return for Saturday’s clash with Port Adelaide.
Dockers forward Sam Switkowski has been ruled out of Friday night’s clash with the Western Bulldogs in Perth after injuring his calf in last week’s win over Gold Coast.
Fremantle expect Switkowski to miss two games.
There are still no return dates set for Nat Fyfe (foot) and Matt Taberner (back).
The Dockers expect Taberner to be out of action for the “medium term”.
AAP
