Collingwood’s Head of High Performance Jarrod Wade has provided an injury update ahead of Friday night’s Preliminary Final against the GWS Giants at the MCG.
Midfielder Taylor Adams suffered a low-grade hamstring injury during training on Friday and has subsequently been ruled out of the clash with the Giants.
Wade said that while unfortunate timing, there is optimism that Adams’ injury isn’t too severe.
“Taylor Adams as reported over the weekend he just came out of a contest and was a little bit tight in his hamstring,” he said.
“He didn’t complete any more of the training session and on Friday night we were able to go get scans and assessments on that hamstring over the weekend and it’s recovered really, really well so far.
“It’s on the very minor end, obviously these hamstrings get graded one, two and three and it’s even somewhere less than a one.
“He’s got some soreness over the weekend but that’s all settled and he’s actually been able to start running this week which is really quickly post injury, which is a really good sign.”
Midfielder Nick Daicos’ knee injury has progressed well after increased loads at training, meaning he will be available for selection this week.
“Nick Daicos has been working away in rehab for the last five or six weeks and was able to complete some of the match simulation last Friday night,” Wade said.
“He got about 25 minutes done of full match simulation, so that’s contact, that’s everything and he wasn’t restricted all in that.
“He’ll complete a full session of training this week. We’re not expecting any hiccups with Nick and he’s been responding to each session better every time we’ve given him more load.”
Forward Reef McInnes has been managing a shoulder injury for the past two weeks but has progressed to the stage where he is available to play.
“He’s been missing some of our match sim for the past two or three weeks,” Wade said.
“It was that last VFL final he copped a really significant knock on his shoulder and had that S-C joint injury.
“He’s been working away through rehab, making sure he’s getting stronger in that area and he’s at the point now where he got to complete the match simulation on Friday.”
Forward Ash Johnson’s season is over following a broken arm in the VFL Elimination Final, however Wade said he wouldn’t require surgery.
“He had that broken arm that’s kept him pretty limited for a couple of weeks with pain,” he said.
“No surgery required so at the moment he’s completing a running program to set himself up for his off-season.
“There will be no long-term issues for Ash but he’s got that broken arm at the moment so he’s unavailable.”
Will Kelly’s season is also over after he had surgery on his wrist.
“He was struggling throughout the year at different times with a wrist injury and he’s gone and had a very minor operation,” Wade said.
“That’s season ending for him, so he’s unavailable for selection for the rest of this season but there’s no long-term effects of that.”
Watch the full injury update:
