Suns face tough call over fitness

STUART Dew faces the first big test of his coaching career, with tough decisions to be made on Pearce Hanley and Aaron Hall.

The Suns’ gamble on rest over surgical repair of Hanley’s dislocated shoulder failed spectacularly when it popped out in the first half of his comeback game against the Dockers in Perth on Saturday.

Hanley returned to the Coast last night and will have scans today. Had he gone under the knife, he would be a month into what would potentially be only a three-month recovery period for an injury that was minor in terms of damage.

He now faces the likelihood of another four to six weeks rest, with the significant risk he re-injures it at any stage of the season, or surgery.

“It doesn’t look good ... in the first game back,” Dew said.

“We knew going into the game that it’s a chance, once they start coming out generally you do need to get them fixed (surgically) at some point.

“He could have made 10 games during this season but given where his strength was pre-game we were pretty confident. We would never have out him out there thinking this was going to happen.’’