There are a number of players who are under injury clouds ahead of the first week of AFL finals.
Collingwood’s Darcy Moore and Nathan Murphy are expected to return (alongside the suspended Beau McCreery) while Nick Daicos remains sidelined with his knee injury.
Melbourne will be hoping there is nothing to see with Bayley Fritsch’s foot while there are updates on players from Carlton, Sydney, GWS, Brisbane and Port Adelaide.
See the injury updates below:
Nick Daicos (Collingwood)
“He’s progressing really well, really happy with the progress so far. He’s completed a couple of runs and pulled up really well from both of those,” Collingwood head of high performance Jarrod Wade said.
“The timing is just going to be a little bit short for the first final (Qualifying Final), so we will rule him out of that one.
“We’re really confident that if required he’ll be able to play week two of the finals series.”
Darcy Moore and Nathan Murphy (Collingwood)
“He (Moore) put in a really big block over the past three weeks, he was full training last week as well and will continue to be in full training in the lead into the game,” Wade said.
“He’s made himself available and cleared the criteria for that return from his hamstring injury.
“We tried to get him (Murphy) up for the last game, but he was a late out.
“He was full training last week and is completing full training this week in the lead into the game, so he should be available as well.”
Bayley Fritsch (Melbourne)
“I think he’ll play, but we’re not 100 per cent sure yet,” SEN’s Tom Morris said.
“Melbourne are keeping their cards very close to their chest. I think they’ll wait and see how this week plays out.”
Blake Acres (Carlton)
“Blake Acres is the one Carlton on Friday night, they’re not yet willing to rule him out or say he will play,” Morris said.
“But I know that Blake Acres is personally confident that he’ll play. He hasn’t done any contact work yet.
“This is a matter of pain management with his collarbone, they just need to make sure he can get through from a pain perspective.
“The player himself is really keen as you can imagine.”
Tom Papley and Justin McInerney (Sydney)
“Trained really strongly on the weekend,” Sydney CEO Tom Harley said on SEN Breakfast.
“Tom Papley and Justin McInerney are the two that would benefit from this extra week and will hopefully get through the week and see how we go on Friday.”
Sam Taylor (GWS)
“He’s ahead of schedule with his hamstring,” Morris said.
“What that actually means I’m not quite sure whether he’s enough ahead of schedule to play on Saturday against the Saints.
“He did run laps on Saturday, he didn’t join the main group.
“He’ll train as much as he can this week. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t play.”
Charlie Dixon (Port Adelaide)
“Dixon is a no, Dixon won’t play,” Kane Cornes said on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“He’s starting to feel a little bit better, but he hasn’t done a lot with that foot fracture. So he is out.
“Todd Marshall will play and he’s really important to them.
“It’s a young forward line that they’ve got with no Dixon.”
St Kilda are yet to release an injury report with Dougal Howard (wrist) and Seb Ross (hamstring) chances to return for their Elimination Final against GWS.