{"id":43835,"date":"2021-03-11T23:10:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T00:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=43835"},"modified":"2021-03-12T03:58:43","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T03:58:43","slug":"magpies-refusing-to-rule-sidebottom-out-of-r1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=43835","title":{"rendered":"Magpies refusing to rule Sidebottom out of R1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Collingwood is still refusing to rule star midfielder Steele Sidebottom<\/strong> out of their Round One clash against the Western Bulldogs despite a calf injury.<\/p>\n

Sidebottom was forced out of the club's pre-season clash against Richmond<\/a> early, and initially appeared to be in major doubt to face the Bulldogs, with the injury sustained two weeks out from the season opener.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old was reduced to walking laps this week at training, but the club is adamant that he remains a 50-50 proposition to take the field next week.<\/p>\n

While Sidebottom's availability remains up in the air, Collingwood looks set to have Taylor Adams<\/strong> in its side after the midfielder was involved in his first full match simulation since injuring his hamstring in early February.<\/p>\n

\"Steele<\/p>\n

Collingwood's Round One opponent also has its own concerns, with defender Hayden Crozier<\/strong> set to miss the first two months of the season after undergoing surgery for a shoulder injury he suffered in the pre-season.<\/p>\n

Crozier injured his AC joint in Monday's AAMI Community Series win over Melbourne<\/a>, and the club confirmed that he had gone under the knife.<\/p>\n

"The surgery went well and we'll concrete his timeframe for return in the next couple of days," the Bulldogs' head of medical services, Chris Bell said in a club statement.<\/p>\n

"But expect Hayden to miss the next six to eight weeks of footy."<\/p>\n

\"Hayden<\/p>\n

In better news for the Bulldogs, star forward Aaron Naughton<\/strong> and youngster Laitham Vandermeer<\/strong> are expected to be available after copping knocks during the Demons clash.<\/p>\n

Carlton is confident that star forward Harry McKay<\/strong> will be in its line-up to face Richmond next Thursday despite an early exit in the Blues' pre-season loss to St Kilda<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McKay suffered an ankle injury and was one of three players including Jacob Weitering <\/strong>(hip) and Jack Newnes<\/strong> (hip) to come out of the game under an injury cloud.<\/p>\n

The trio of players both did light skills work at training on Tuesday and are likely to be available.<\/p>\n

\"Harry<\/p>\n

Carlton's Round One opponent, Richmond, is also likely to field a near-full strength team in the season opener, with Bachar Houli<\/strong> the only real doubt for the reigning premiers.<\/p>\n

Houli is still dealing with the calf injury he courageously played through in October's grand final<\/a> and is unlikely to face the Blues.<\/p>\n

However, fellow premiership stars Dion Prestia<\/strong> and Tom Lynch<\/strong> are expected to face Carlton despite sitting out the club's pre-season clash against Collingwood last week.<\/p>\n

Beaten grand finalists Geelong are also sweating on the fitness of one of its veterans, with Mitch Duncan<\/strong> still no certainty to be ready for Round One.<\/p>\n

\"Bachar<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old is facing a race against time to be fit as he attempts to overcome a calf injury sustained during the summer.<\/p>\n

Duncan has resumed running, but having missed the Cats' pre-season win over Essendon, will need to convince the team's medical staff to give him the green light to return to AFL action immediately.<\/p>\n

Luke Dahlhaus<\/strong> (groin) and Esava Ratugolea<\/strong> (leg) are both likely to be available for the clash against Adelaide, while Rhys Stanley<\/strong> will have cleared the AFL's 12-day concussion protocol by the time the March 20 clash rolls around.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here! <\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Collingwood is still refusing to rule star midfielder Steele Sidebottom out of their Round One clash against the Western Bulldogs despite a calf injury. Sidebottom […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43835"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43835"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43837,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43835\/revisions\/43837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}