Mcinerney on standby Safety first for Hipwood

LIONS coach Chris Fagan is prepared to unleash Oscar Mcinerney in a straight swap for Eric Hipwood if his tall forward fails to recover from a knee injury in time for Sunday’s clash with Port Adelaide.

Hipwood ( pictured) underwent scans on Tuesday that revealed a mild strain to his medial ligament and Fagan won’t hesitate in resting the 21year-old if he’s not fully fit.

“He was actually moving a little bit better this morning, still got the brace on and looked quite dramatic,” Fagan said on Tuesday morning.

“(But) we won’t be taking any risks with him – if he’s not right, he’ll have a rest.

“We’re pretty sure whatever the outcome is, if he is out, he won’t be out too long.”

Hipwood has been listed as TBC on the Lions’ injury list and trained on Tuesday sporting a heavy knee brace.

He was limited to handball drills despite Fagan’s insistence his straight-line running and aerial ability wasn’t impeded and though he’ll be given every chance to play this weekend, Mcinerney shapes as a likefor-like replacement upfront.

The Big O sat out Brisbane’s upset win over GWS after suffering concussion in Round 15 against Melbourne but Mcinerney is ready to rip in after an enforced rest last week. “He actually passed his tests last week, we just felt it was a pretty heavy knock and despite the fact the tests were OK that it was best for his welfare if he had a week off,” Fagan said.

“My experience with guys that get concussions, a lot of them pass the test but they don’t always play all that well, because their reflexes aren’t so good or their confidence is down. We just wanted to make sure he was OK.”

Mcinerney isn’t as recognised a goalscorer as Hipwood, who starred in Brisbane’s Round 3 win over Port with a six-goal haul, but Fagan won’t care how many goals are kicked so long as his side can grind out another win on the road.

“It will be interesting to see whether it becomes a game of high scoring or a war of attrition, I’m not sure which way it will go,” he said.

“I’m sure neither of us coaches will care what the score is at the end, or how many points we’ve kicked, as long as we’ve got the W.”