Carlton’s Thomas gets the all-clear
CARLTON recruit Dale Thomas has missed the start of his club’s highaltitude training camp at Flagstaff, Arizona, with the Blues preferring the 26-year-old continue his rehabilitation in Melbourne for the remainder of this week.
The late departure was planned, as the Blues decided there was no value in Thomas being in Arizona this week as he would have been unable to join the group on their treks to the Grand Canyon and Mount Humphreys.
The highly prized midfielder trained at Visy Park with the team on Monday before receiving a positive report from a specialist in his regular check up during the week and he is expected to leave for Arizona on Saturday.
Although about a dozen Carlton players have remained in Melbourne, including Chris Judd, Andrew Carrazzo and Matthew Kreuzer, the club felt the trip was a good chance for Thomas to get to know his new teammates.
Carlton football operations manager Andrew McKay said Thomas would do cardio work on the trip and would be able to join in the activities which are planned for the second week.
Thomas had a difficult 2013, only playing five senior games for Collingwood in 2013 due to a troublesome right ankle, and then decided to join Carlton as a free agent at the end of the season.