Healthy optimism over early Danger return

BROWNLOW medallist Patrick Dangerfield is back “bouncing around” from ankle surgery in the hope of making a quicker than expected return in the second half of the year.

Dangerfield has been sidelined since the Round 5 win over North Melbourne with a significant syndesmosis setback, which he had operated on nearly three weeks ago.

It was initially forecast that Dangerfield (pictured) would miss at least eight weeks.

But Geelong assistant coach Nigel Lappin revealed Danger(on field hoped he would be back earlier than expected.

“He was pretty sore his first 10 days (but) the last week he’s been fantastic,” Lappin said on AFL Nation.

“He’s got unbelievably good healing powers. He was bouncing around in the footy club Friday) having a kick of the footy. He wasn’t on the track running around or anything just yet. He’s always got a positive attitude that with any type of injury, he can get over them really quickly.

“He’s progressing really well. He’s doing a lot of strengthening on it at the moment and he’s really confident that he’ll get back quicker than what’s expected.”

Jordan Clark was dropped for the second time this year for last night’s match against Richmond and Lappin said the wingman was continuing to work on the basics.

“As we know with young players, until they’ve played 30 or 40 games, they’re not yet (ready),” he said.

“A lot of the guys take a little bit longer to develop and really feel confident out there.

“With Jordan, he’s just been working really hard on his fundamentals, so his ability to be able to execute when it’s the time to execute … just strengthening his body and his contest. He’s improving with that stuff. He’s a really important player for us long-term.

“We’re really excited about … what he brings from an offensive point of view.”