Don’s fitness struggle

ESSENDON legend Scott Lucas has revealed the reason behind Anthony McDonaldTipungwuti’s absence at the end of the season.

McDonald-Tipungwuti did not play a part in his side’s last three game. At the time, Dons coach Ben Rutten said the 28year-old missed because of personal reasons.

But Lucas, who is McDonald-Tipungwuti’s manager, said on SEN: “He was challenged in that space with his body, which was making it harder for him to perform at the level he would like to, and the team would like him to. It just made it difficult, and in the end the club made the decision to try and work through that and hope that if the finals go longer then he was a really good chance to come back.”