SUNS WEIGHING WELLER RETURN

King in line for start as Tasmanian recuperates

GOLD COAST star Ben King is on track to be in the Suns line-up for round 1 as the club’s medicos weigh a return date for Tasmania’s Lachie Weller given his exceptional progress from an ACL tear.

King tore his ACL last February in a routine marking contest at training and is about to work back into training drills for a Suns side which will be transformed by his return.

Exciting young defender Wil Powell will be ready for round 1 after breaking his foot in June, while Connor Budarick’s second ACL tear in July means the Suns will take no risks with him. But the prospect of the Suns working out how to blend in talls including King, Mabior Chol, Joel Jeffrey and Levi Casboult means they will be optimistic they can replace Izak Rankine’s goal power.

King’s brother Max recovered strongly from his own ACL tear in the final year of NAB League football and Suns football boss Wayne Campbell is optimistic about Ben’s progress.

The Suns will play two games against other clubs before their round 1 opener with the official pre-season contest in the early days of March likely to be his return clash. “He is almost into drills now. He’s going well.

He will play round 1, there is no doubt there,” Campbell said.

“The first scratch is three weeks out from round 1. Whether he plays in that or not I don’t know but certainly on track for round 1 at this stage. Almost from the moment he did it he was pretty positive about it. Whether he had seen his brother go through that and he knew what it was but he’s been really strong and resilient, and he’s done really well.”

Weller’s strong progress was reinforced by his work with American reconditioning and ACL specialist Bill

Knowles, who recently spent a fortnight on the Gold Coast.

But the club will have to make a call that balances his risk of re-injury with his spectacular progress so far.

“Weller is flying. We will play it by ear but the positive is that he is going really well. There certainly won’t be any rush for him to play in round 1 just because it’s round 1.”

The Suns will hope Malcolm Rosas (14 goals in 15 games) takes another step alongside Ben Ainsworth (25 goals) but will need to find another small forward.