St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt will return against North Melbourne on Friday night, but emerging key forward Paddy McCartin will miss after pulling up sore from the loss to Adelaide.
Six-time Trevor Barker Award winner Riewoldt has missed the last two games due to bone bruising in his left knee, but after training strongly on Wednesday, the 34-year-old has been declared fit to face the Kangaroos.
“Nick Riewoldt has trained really well today and will play at the weekend. He is going really well, so that’s good news,” GM Football Performance Jamie Cox told saints.com.au on Wednesday afternoon.
Cox ruled out McCartin for Friday night’s game after the 21-year-old spearhead failed to get through training on Wednesday due to soreness in his knee following the trip to Adelaide Oval.
“Paddy McCartin pulled up a little bit sore in the knee from the game on the weekend and didn’t get through training today. Unfortunately, Paddy is going to miss a week,” Cox said.
“He is likely to have a scan to see what he might have done. We’re hopeful it’s only a minor issue and he’ll only miss a very short amount of football.”
Young key defender Hugh Goddard has suffered another foot injury, although it is completely unrelated to the Achilles tendon he ruptured in the middle of last year.
Goddard, 20, is set to see a foot specialist on Thursday to determine the severity of the injury after hurting his right foot in a game for Sandringham a fortnight ago.
“Hughie Goddard damaged his foot in a VFL game a couple of weeks ago,” Cox said.
“He looks to have damaged some of the tendons under his big toe; it’s certainly unrelated to his Achilles, which is good news.
“But the downside is that Hughie is going to catch up with the surgeon tomorrow just to get an update on the severity of his injury.”
Cox said defensive forward Nathan Wright is the other forced change at this stage after he hurt his shoulder in the loss to the Crows.
“Nathan Wright damaged his AC joint in the game against the Crows on the weekend and wasn’t available for selection this week,” he said.
Injury List 14/6/17
Nick Riewoldt (knee) available
Paddy McCartin (knee) 1-2 weeks
Hugh Goddard (foot) indefinite
Nathan Wright (AC joint) 1-2 weeks
David Armitage (groin) 4-5 weeks
Ed Phillips (leg) 1 week
