Hanley to shoulder more pain at the Suns
PEARCE Hanley could miss the opening five rounds of the AFL season after dislocating his right shoulder in Gold Coast’s final pre-season game.
Hanley has avoided surgery but the club expects him to be out of action for between four and six weeks after popping his shoulder out during Gold Coast’s JLT Community Series win over Brisbane on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Irishman suffered the injury while diving to touch a goal-bound Sherrin at Fankhauser Reserve.
“It was an unfortunate incident for Pearce on the weekend; he’s had a dislocation of his right shoulder,” Suns football manager Jon Haines said.
“The advice from the surgeons and our medical staff is a fairly conservative approach, so we expect the recovery period will take four to six weeks and at that time Pearce will be ready to play.”
Jack Martin has been cleared of injury after going off with a tight hamstring against the Lions while Haines said key forward Peter Wright is expected to return from a calf injury early in the season.
“Pete’s tracking really well, he’s still working through his recovery with the calf strain that he’s experienced,” Haines said.
“He’s attacking his rehab as we thought he would, and we’ll assess him over the next week or so.”