The Brisbane Lions are expecting to be without star forward Joe Daniher for more than a month, but are hopeful his shoulder injury will not require surgery.
Daniher was forced out of the first half of the Lions’ 24-point win over Sydney on Sunday after his shoulder popped out twice.
The 28-year-old left the field cradling his left arm in his jumper before he was subbed off at half-time.
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While a public holiday in Queensland has meant the Lions have been forced to wait an extra 24 hours to determine the extent of Daniher’s shoulder injury, the club is “slightly confident” he will avoid surgery.
“With the public holiday up here he won’t get scans until tomorrow [Tuesday] but we are hopeful and slightly confident it’s not too bad and doesn’t need surgery. Hopefully with strength work it might be four to six weeks, but we won’t know until we get the scans,” Brisbane’s football boss, Danny Daly, said on radio.
“They strapped him up and he kept going but he went up for a marking contest and it popped out a little bit again.
“If it had have been a grand final, or a final, they would have jabbed him up and went back out so it was more precautionary.”
Any extended period without Daniher in its forward line would leave Brisbane with a gaping hole to fill, with the left-footer enjoying a strong start to the season.
After kicking 46 goals in his first season up north last year, Daniher has kicked 19 through the first seven rounds of 2022, a tally which has him currently third in the Coleman Medal race.
His average of 2.7 goals per game is right in line with his 2017 All-Australian season with Essendon when he kicked 65 majors in 23 games.
Daniher’s absence will be felt even more deeply by Brisbane given the absence of fellow tall forward Eric Hipwood, who is still recovering from an ACL tear last season.
The Lions, who are currently second on the ladder behind Melbourne, face the West Coast Eagles, Adelaide, Hawthorn and the GWS Giants over the next month.