St Kilda defender Jimmy Webster will miss at least two games with a broken hand after he was accidentally kicked by Carlton ruckman Matthew Kreuzer in Saturday’s win at Etihad Stadium.
Webster had been in career-best form across the first two months of 2017, but with the bye coming up for St Kilda, the Tasmanian is likely to only sit out two games against Sydney and the Western Bulldogs.
Saints GM Football Performance Jamie Cox said the 23-year-old underwent surgery on Monday to repair the fractures in his hand and will return to training next week on a modified program.
“Jimmy broke two bones in his hand when he got accidentally kicked by Matthew Kreuzer against the Blues on Saturday,” Cox told saints.com.au on Tuesday afternoon.
“He had surgery yesterday to repair the fractures and he will miss the next two games and then we have the bye. So the expectation at this stage is he’ll return after the bye.
“One of the advantages of an upper limb injury is he will be able to train and do a whole lot of running conditioning and still be able to kick the footy and do lower leg strength work in the gym as well.”
Midfielder Nathan Freeman suffered a head knock in Sandringham’s win over Coburg on Sunday, but has recovered well and is on track to play against the Northern Blues on Saturday.
“Freezer in the second quarter of the VFL game against Coburg suffered a minor concussion episode,” Cox said.
“He has recovered really well, did some training today and the expectation is he will train on Thursday but will need some assessment from the medical staff still.
“His early recovery has been very positive and we think he is a good chance to play this weekend.”
Cox said first-year key forward Josh Battle is on track to return this weekend after missing the last few weeks with bone bruising in his knee.
“Josh had bone bruising in his knee from a knock a few weeks ago.
“He’s been training really strongly across the last two weeks in terms of his football training.
“He will train fully on Thursday and if he gets through that, which we expect he will, he will be available to play as well this weekend.”
Monday Wash-Up: Round 8 v Carlton
Injury Update 16/5/17
David Armitage (groin) 3 weeks
Tom Hickey (knee) 4-6 weeks
Jimmy Webster (broken hand) 3 weeks
Nathan Freeman (concussion) test
Ed Phillips (ankle) test
