Warriors to give injured star all the time he needs
MODEWARRE says key forward Luke Forbes is on target to play in the second half of the season as he battles niggling injuries.
Warriors coach Josh Finch admitted Forbes, who has played just three matches this season, will be wrapped in cotton wool indefinitely.
“He’ll be a few more weeks,” Finch said of Forbes.
“The beauty of being 5-2, we’ve got the luxury of picking and choosing when we play him. We just get him in at the back end of the season and get him flying at the right end of the year.”
Asked what Forbes was battling with, Finch joked: “old age”.
“He just can’t take a trick. He’s just got a few niggles.
“He had an injuryinterrupted pre-season but then he played the first three games, and we were forced to play him in the first game when a bloke pulled out 20minutes before the game with gastro, so he went in underdone.
“He kicked something like eight goals 15 in the first three games, but we’re just being smart with him and getting him on a better program and back for the second half of the year.”
Forbes, a former Newtown & Chilwell and St Joseph’s star, is among a host of Warriors on the sidelines.
Midfielder Tyler Wemyss is unavailable, while No. 1 ruckman Nic Clarke is likely to miss another week with hamstring tendinitis.
“He played really well in the first game and then he missed the next five,” Finch said of Clarke. “He played in the reserves on the weekend and he’ll be better for the run, but it’s whether we pick him this week or not.”
Leigh Anderson is likely to return in the second half of the season as he battles an ankle injury sustained against Portarlington, while James Ritchie hurt his shoulder against the Demons.
While injuries have played a part, Finch has been largely content with his side’s season.
“We’re going OK, we’re improving,” he said.
“By all means, we don’t want to play our best footy in April or May, but you’ve got to get enough wins to get there.
“We were up and down in the first six weeks, and we spoke about that during our review over the bye, and they responded in the first week so hopefully we can get a fourquarter performance against Ocean Grove to see where we sit in the pecking order.”
The Grubbers have been building, winning two of their past three matches, and Finch knows his team faces a stern test.
“It will be a good game. We’re looking forward to the challenge,” he said.
“Realistically, we’ve won all our games bar Barwon Heads and Torquay. Against Barwon Heads we just didn’t play a good brand of footy and they definitely beat us on the day.
“Torquay was a good test for us and we lost by eight points.”