Injured Panthers in clear
BELL Post Hill’s injury list is healthier than first thought after both Jordan Flaccavento and Tane Rabbas went down with scares in Saturday’s loss to Inverleigh.
Flaccavento was sent to hospital after copping a knee in his back, with initial fears he may have received a knock to one of his kidneys.
But he was dismissed from hospital on Saturday night and will do everything in his power to overcome the bruised back in time for this weekend’s preliminary final.
“More so with finals when they’ve got a doctor on site, they’re pretty cautious about back knocks and kidneys. It was more precaution than anything,” coach Brad Martin said.
“He got a bit stitched up by Matty James, I think. He chipped one over the top and it just hung in the air forever and he was planted under it.
“He’s pretty confident, he’s doing a bit of icing. It’s pretty much just a knee in the back, but once they get those hits around the kidneys, you’ve got to be cautious about it.
“I couldn’t see it being a real issue (for this weekend).”
Meanwhile, Rabbas was the Panthers’ second casualty on Saturday with a groin complaint, but his physiotherapist has cleared him of any damage.
“He just messaged me then, he’s been to the physio and feels fantastic,” Martin said of Rabbas.
“They’re both young kids, mate, the pain threshold hasn’t kicked in yet.
“I’m pretty confident all the guys that have been down the last couple of weeks will come up for this week’s game.”
Martin admitted he was more comfortable now with the Panthers’ injury list than he was following the 32-point loss to Inverleigh.
“Walking off Saturday licking our wounds already and then getting the injury report, it was pretty tough,” he said.
“But there’s still a long way to go, they’ve got to do the right things to get up, but we’re pretty confident.”
Martin also declared Daniel Walve a likely inclusion from an ankle injury, but Matt Lentini is set to miss the rest of the Panthers’ finals campaign.
“He was probably about 90 per cent right to go (against Inverleigh), but we thought it was way too risky if he went down early in the game,” Martin said of Walve.
“I’m more than confident they’ll be 100 per cent to go.”