Jack Viney will have surgery on his Achilles injury on Tuesday and is set to miss at least three months, costing him most of the first half of the AFL season if his recovery goes well.
As recently as late last week, Melbourne fitness staff were hopeful that Viney would avoid surgery and be available for the early rounds of the season.
The Demons will be without Jack Viney’s ball-winning abilities in round one.Credit: Getty Images
That decision changed on Monday, with the 31-year-old leader booked for surgery.
The Demons’ conservative rest and recovery plan to manage the Achilles issue and avoid surgery meant that, coupled with a back injury, Viney barely trained over the summer.
When in January the midfielder attempted to lift his training to the next level, his Achilles flared again while his back also caused problems.
His lengthy absence means the Demons’ midfield, which was already to be re-cast after the trading out of Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver in the off-season, and the trading in of former Saints captain Jack Steele, will now be almost unrecognisable from the midfield set-up that has carried the club for most of the last decade.
Only captain Max Gawn will remain of the regular midfield quartet that will take on the Saints at the MCG in round one on March 15. Gawn is playing for Victoria in the State of Origin match against WA on Saturday night.
Melbourne will hope All Australian small forward Kysaiah Pickett can move into the midfield to join Max Gawn Credit: Getty Images
New Melbourne coach Steven King knew he was taking on the job with a different list to manage, but that is even more apparent now, without four players from the top 10 in the club’s best and fairest last year – Petracca was second, Oliver seventh and Viney 10th.
Jake Bowey, who finished fourth, had surgery to repair a lisfranc injury in his foot in December, a procedure that was expected to sideline him for at least six months.
The importance of the trading in of Steele from St Kilda has grown in significance to help keep experience around the ball for the Demons. The absences are expected to deliver more opportunities for promising young players Harvey Langford, Caleb Windsor and Xavier Lindsay.
Trent Rivers and Kysaiah Pickett are also likely to spend more time in the midfield this season.
Meanwhile, key defender Steven May’s future is under a cloud because of personal issues that meant he missed training last week, while Jai Culley fractured his arm on Friday after an impressive pre-season on the wing.
The club had already established a new look across its off-field with a new president in Steven Smith at the helm taking over in a planned succession from Brad Green, who remains on the board. They have a new chief executive in Paul Guerra, a new executive football head in Ned Guy (a newly crafted role for the club) and King as their new coach.
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