Langdon’s on brink of return after a year out
COLLINGWOOD defender Tom Langdon will make his return from more than a year out of the game in a scratch match against Fremantle this weekend.
Gun midfielder Steele Sidebottom will come into the senior side for injured captain Scott Pendlebury, while Callum Brown is also in doubt with a rolled ankle.
Rupert Wills could also slot into a key onball role in favour of back-up clearance-winner Brayden Sier.
Langdon’s return to competitive match practice is a significant boost as the club hopes the intercepting defender can help fill in for injured star backman Jeremy Howe towards finals.
Langdon hasn’t played AFL since he seriously injured his knee in the win over St Kilda in Round 9 last year. He tried to avoid surgery initially, but eventually went under the knife on a degenerative problem in July.
There were fears the injury was career-ending but the backman, who turned down Sydney’s advances two years ago, has trained solidly over the past month.
Football manager Geoff Walsh confirmed Langdon was “ready to resume” after a long and challenging lay-off.
“He’s been performing strongly with some full training sessions and will have some match simulation or some competitive practice against Fremantle this weekend,” Walsh said. “Pleasingly, we will see Tom coming out and performing in that.”
Walsh said Pendlebury was expected to be out for 15-20 days to help fix a quad issue.
It means the brilliant ballwinner will miss games against Fremantle and Sydney, and potentially Adelaide as well as part of the compressed fixture.
Sidebottom returns from his coronavirus protocol breach when he had a big night with teammates Howe and Lynden Dunn and Daniel Wells.