Brownlow Medallist to miss at least a month after surgery on shattered finger

The injury toll continues to rise from the State of Origin match with Brownlow Medallist Matt Rowell ruled out for at least the first month of the season with a finger injury.

Rowell had surgery on Thursday in Melbourne to repair his left-hand ring finger which was smashed when he smothered a ball playing for Victoria last Saturday night in Perth.

A club source with knowledge of the injury said Rowell would not play before the Suns’ first bye at the very earliest after scans and then surgery confirmed the injury was far worse than first thought after the match. He had pins and screws inserted in the shattered finger on Thursday.

In the immediate post-match period it was felt Rowell might miss one game at most from the injury which was first thought to be a bad dislocation.

The Suns play Geelong in Opening Round before playing West Coast then Richmond ahead of the bye. He is no guarantee to return for the post-bye round four match against Melbourne with his return reliant on how well the bones knit.

Given two of the Suns’ first three games are against teams that finished bottom two last season the timing of his absence is not as damaging as it could have been for the Suns. The arrival of Christian Petracca proves even more valuable now given the Rowell injury

The form of Wil Powell, who also played in the State of Origin match and played well on the ball in the first quarter of the practice match against St Kilda on Thursday night, will give the Suns comfort that they have depth in the midfield.

The severity of Rowell’s injury comes after the Giants All-Australian key defender Sam Taylor was also revealed to have suffered a high-grade hamstring injury in the pre-season match. There is no time frame yet on Taylor’s expected return, but he has been ruled out of the “early rounds ” as a minimum.