Brisbane Lions co-captain Hugh McCluggage is set to be sidelined for at least another two games with a calf injury.
The Lions, who are still chasing their first win of the season, had hoped the star midfielder would be fit for Brisbane’s clash with St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
However, having already missed the Lions’ pre-bye loss to the Sydney Swans, McCluggage now won’t play this weekend and is also set to be ruled out of Brisbane’s battle with Collingwood at the Gabba next Thursday night.
“It’s probably more likely he’ll be OK the week after that.” Lions coach Chris Fagan said.
“It’s interesting. He’s got a low-grade calf injury that’s not improving very quickly, so we’ve just go to go with the symptoms and signs and look after him.
“He’s a really important player for us. We’d love to have him in the team, but we also don’t want to bring him back early and injure him again and then we’ve got him out for longer.”
The Lions will also be without suspended co-captain Harris Andrews for another two games; however, Zac Bailey and Darcy Gardiner will return after serving one-match bans.
Forward Logan Morris has also been selected after recovering from a hand injury.
Zane Zakostelsky and James Tunstill have been dropped from the 23, while Daniel Annable is out with a shoulder injury that will sideline him for up to four months.
“It’s not all doom and gloom that we’re zero (wins) and two (losses),” Fagan said.
“We’ve just got to try and build on the second half we played against the Swans, get a couple of players back and see how we go.
“Continuity in your team and building connections … is really important. and we haven’t been able to do that yet, so hopefully we can start to get to that over the next few weeks.”
The Lions’ clash with the Saints could be spicy after pre-season comments from Fagan questioning the Melbourne’s club spending spree that secured them Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Tom De Koning.
His comments didn’t sit well with Saints coach Ross Lyon, who said he couldn’t recall commenting on a specific opposition player “in a derogatory sense”.
Fagan on Thursday said he understood the Saints’ response and was ‘OK’ with it but didn’t apologise for raising the issue of an inflated market.
“I don’t very often choose to speak out about big-ticket issues like that,” the Lions coach said.
“This is not just St Kilda, this is all clubs. Contracts seem to be getting longer and longer and longer, then along comes St Kilda and decides they want to pay those players the amount of money they did.
“Do we want this sort of marketplace where offers to players become ridiculous?
“I wanted the opportunity to raise that so we could debate that as an industry, so that’s what I did. It is important we do that.
“There are 45 players on a list and I don’t want to see the situation where a large chunk of the money is going to the five or six players at the top of the pile and the rest are missing out.
“It’s a team sport, and 23 players take the field every weekend and I think it’s important they all feel valued.”
