Carlton assistant coach Jordan Russell has provided an update on a number of injured players as the Blues head into the 2024 season.
The Blues ruled star midfielder Sam Walsh out of their two practice matches with back soreness, 14 months on from his significant back surgery.
The forward line coach says they’re still yet to get to the bottom of his ongoing soreness.
“It’s a grumbly one. They’re still trying to figure out exactly what’s going on,” Russell told SEN WA Breakfast.
“He just gets a bit of back soreness that flares up every now and again and because of the quality player that he is, you don’t want to rush these things.
“We want to respect it and make sure he’s ticking a few of the pain boxes and making sure he can run with freedom and there’s no point pushing him at this time of the year because if we push him and make whatever it is worse, then we might lose him for a chunk of the season and that’s not what we want.
“It’s just about getting him pain free so that he can play pain free and we can see the best version of him and at the moment it’s just a bit inconsistent and we’re not prepared to risk that.”
Jacob Weitering has already been ruled out of the start of the season with a calf injury, with Russell saying he could be back following the club’s Round 2 bye.
“Weitering is coming along. He started running last week. He’s improving quickly, we’ve just got respect the severity of the injury,” he said.
“I think it was reported earlier in the week Round 3 or something like that. It’s just about how quickly he can progress with that pain tolerance and management of the injury and we’d love to have him back as quickly as possible, but this isn’t the time of year to start pushing things too quickly.”
Jack Martin is currently dealing with an MCL sprain and didn’t play against Geelong on Thursday.
Russell says the talented forward has had a few issues post Christmas, but is still a shot to play in Opening Round.
“Jack Martin, he should be available for some sort of match play in the next week or two, which is exciting,” he said.
“He had a really strong pre-Christmas period and just post-Christmas has had a couple of these little niggles.
“He’s one we want to get back as quickly as possible with how important he is to the shape of our forward line.”
Zac Williams was held out of the club’s practice match against Geelong as he builds in 2024 following a torn ACL last summer.
“He’s right about there. He’ll play in the next couple of weeks and generate some of that match fitness,” Russell said.
“He’s pretty much like a new recruit for us.”
Carlton takes on Melbourne next Wednesday in their pre-season hit-out before traveling to Queensland to face Brisbane in Opening Round.