GWS football boss Jason McCartney has provided an update on injured star Lachie Whitfield.
It’s been a disrupted start to the season for Whitfield who suffered a bruised liver at training in February that has sidelined him for the opening three rounds.
The 2018 All-Australian will participate in contact training on Thursday and is expected to be available for selection in 3-4 weeks.
“Lachie’s turned the corner,” McCartney told SEN Breakfast.
“We get some weird ones (injuries) to be honest. It was a corkie on the liver and it had some bleeding. He then had some trouble with his lungs and some breathing issues.
“He’s on top of that now. He’s running really well. He progresses into some contact training this week. It’s probably looking around that 3-4 weeks now. His training was really strong on Saturday.
“We look forward to him integrating tomorrow into his first contact session.”
Giants recruit Jesse Hogan is set to return from a quad injury via a VFL practice match against Sydney on Friday.
“Jesse’s clear (to play). He’ll be available this week,” McCartney said.
“We haven’t finalised the team. My gut feeling would be he’ll play on Friday against the Swans in a VFL practice match, which will be his first hit-out.
“He’s done really well. He had a minor setback. He’s had a couple of weeks of really strong training so it would be great to see Jesse out there in Giants colours in a VFL practice match on Friday.”
It’s a welcome boost for the Giants after captain Stephen Coniglio (ankle), Phil Davis (calf) and Matt de Boer (hamstring) were ruled out for several weeks.
Injuries to Coniglio (8-10 weeks), Davis (6 weeks) and De Boer (10 weeks) has further compounded the club's winless start to 2021.
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