Injured Western Bulldogs star Bailey Smith will miss his workforce‘s two-week road trip with 25 players to travel directly from Adelaide to Perth following Sunday’s Gather Round conflict with Port Adelaide.
Adjusting to what coach Luke Beveridge referred to as a “quirk of the fixture” the Bulldogs may fly in different gamers however gained’t threat midfield star Smith who injured his calf at coaching this week.
Beveridge mentioned Smith was “ginger” they usually’d put him in cotton wool within the hope he’ll be prepared for a Round 7 conflict with Hawthorn in Melbourne.
“(Smith‘s) got a calf injury and he’ll be out for a couple of weeks. Beyond that, I’m not sure,” Beveridge advised reporters.
“Bit ginger after training so he had a scan. Little bit up. So no risk.
“We’ve got a squad of 25 on the road, Fremantle in Perth the following Friday, we’re going to stay away. So it’s a quirk of the schedule.
“We’ve asked everyone to come away for a week and it’s too much risk with Bailey. So he’ll stay back, miss a couple and we’ll work it out from there.”
In what may present a blueprint for future groups, with Gather Round set to remain in Adelaide past this season, the Bulldogs will fly to Perth on Monday and stay in Western Australia till after subsequent Friday‘s clash with Fremantle.
Beveridge said the time on the road together could help “silicone up the gaps” in his team which moved to a 2-2 record after last week’s five-point win over Richmond.
“Without going excessive in a theming or a unusual sense, we‘ll all be there together supporting each other,” Beveridge said of the lengthy time away
“We recognise probably our frailty over the first couple of rounds and make sure that we‘re siliconing up the gaps a little bit.
“We leaked a bit too much in the second quarter last week and that‘s on field – but you only get it right on-field if the cohesion and the connection and spirituality off-field is in the right place.”
After losing key defender Alex Keath to concussion following a collision with Richmond key forward Tom Lynch last week, Beveridge has chosen to go with Tim O‘Brien instead of Ryan Gardner as his replacement.
O’Brien hasn’t performed a senior sport since spherical 16 final yr and endured a irritating pre-season struggling a number of soft-tissue setbacks.
Premiership gamers and one of many membership’s favorite sons, Tom Liberatore, will play his two hundredth sport.
Originally printed as Western Bulldogs star Bailey Smith to overlook two-week highway journey by damage
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
