Bachar Houli today sought specialist advice in Sydney for an ongoing groin problem. Team manager, David Calthorpe said the consultation would result in a decision on whether to operate on the injury which has sidelined Houli for a number of weeks.
“We decided to seek the surgeon’s advice as to whether we would continue the rehabilitation process that Bachar is currently undertaking or have surgery,” Calthorpe said.
If the advice is to operate, Houli will return to Sydney next week for surgery and then undertake a rehabilitation process which will see him ready to return for the first week of pre-season training.
Jay Neagle will have surgery on his injured ankle this Friday. The injury set-back occured during the third quarter of the Richmond game and he didn't retirn to the field.
“The operation is expected to keep him out for eight weeks so his season is now over,"" Calthorpe said.
""The positive is that he will be raring to go for day one of the pre-season which is something that he probably hasn’t done for his whole time at the footy club.""
In other injury news, Jason Winderlich and Mark McVeigh are both recovering well after undergoing operations in the past month. McVeigh is currently undertaking rehabilitation after an arthriscope on his knee and is expected to return in 3-4 weeks.
Winderlich underwent significant back surgery three weeks ago to repair an injury which has troubled him since the preseason.
“Jason was back at the club today and was moving a lot better than he has in recent weeks,” Calthorpe said.
""He has been improving gradually since having the operation and he is a lot brighter today than he was last week. He is starting to be able to take care of himself a lot more also.”
Calthorpe is very optimistic Andrew Welsh and Dustin Fletcher will play against Collingwood should they make it through training this week.
