Gold Coast defender Wil Powell could spend up to two months on the sidelines after sustaining a hamstring injury, but in better news for the Suns, Ben King is expected to play Round 1.
Powell proved himself as one of Stuart Dew’s most important last year as a rebounding defender before an untimely ankle injury brought an early end to his 2022 season.
The Suns reported on Thursday morning that a fresh hamstring injury could see him miss the early parts of the 2023 season.
Some unfortunate news for Wil Powell along with updates on Ben King, Lachie Weller and Connor Budarick in our pre-season Qscan Injury Update. https://t.co/P77XqPBHAC
— Gold Coast Suns (@GoldCoastSUNS) February 2, 2023
“He's done a fairly bad hamstring, a grade three, so it'll probably be six weeks. He starts running in a little while but it's a fairly substantial one,” Gold Coast GM of football Wayne Campbell said.
“We were amazed how well he was going. He'd put in a power of work. With some of those gruesome ones they can take quite a bit of time, but he'd been training really well.”
The Suns were cruelled by ACL injuries last year, with King the first to go down in pre-season.
Lachie Weller and Connor Budarick also went down later in the year with the same injury.
But with the Suns buoyed by a late-year contract extension for Dew and staring at their best chance for a maiden finals appearance in some years, King will be pivotal in the club’s push up the ladder.
On the key forward, the club said: “King is approaching the 12-month mark since his injury and, pending hitting the markers set by the medical team, is expected to be available for Round 1.”
Weller is also expected to be available early in the year, while Budarick is aiming for a mid-season return.