Reigning Bombers greatest and fairest Peter Wright may return a month forward of schedule after receiving a promising replace on his restoration from a shoulder surgical procedure.
The 203cm ahead is now anticipated to play earlier than the Bombers’ spherical 14 bye, with coach Brad Scott saying Wright needs to play “imminently”.
Wright will probably be a crucial addition for the Bombers as they proceed to battle a spate of stress fractures to their key place gamers that has led to the membership consulting Cricket Australia as a part of a evaluate of the difficulty.
Young trio Nik Cox, Harrison Jones and Zach Reid have all been sidelined with again stress fractures this season, with the Bombers in need of choices at both finish of the bottom and preyed upon by huge forwards Joe Daniher and Tom Hawkins in latest weeks.
“We’re probably in a phase where we’ve been frustrated with losing a couple of players, but the silver lining is we’ve been able to expose some other players in roles and opportunities they wouldn’t have got otherwise,” Scott mentioned.
“But the good news is we do have a lot of players who are closing in on a return – Peter Wright’s well ahead of schedule, so there’s a possibility that he’ll be back before our bye.
“He just had a surgical review and subsequent scan which has shown that the bone healing has progressed faster than the surgeon first thought, so that’s great news … (he has) full range of motion, good strength, he’s just a thorough professional and he’s done everything he could to get back.”
Scott mentioned necessary defender Jordan Ridley was a sure starter for Saturday’s Dreamtime on the ‘G match, but Jake Kelly would remain in the concussion protocols as his symptoms linger.
He said key defender Jayden Laverde was “ahead of schedule” in his return from a shoulder injury, meaning he is set to return earlier than his listed four to five weeks, while No.5 pick Elijah Tsatas joined full training on Wednesday for the first time since he underwent knee surgery.
The return of Wright, who booted 53 goals during his breakout 2022 season, including six hauls of four goals or more, would help streamline Essendon’s ball motion, Scott mentioned.
“It just adds another threat to our forward half, and because Pete, like a lot of good key forwards across the competition, draws the ball, it can make you more predictable,” he mentioned.
“A bit more predictable in our forward half wouldn’t be such a bad thing at the moment.”
Source: www.news.com.au
