Carlton‘s promising season has been dealt a major blow with star defender Jacob Weitering facing the prospect of being sidelined for more than a month with a shoulder injury.
The 24-year-old hurt the AC joint in his right shoulder in the opening quarter of Collingwood’s 11. 13. (79) to 11. 9. (75) win over the Blues and was substituted out of the game.
Weitering sustained the injury when he collided with Collingwood’s Jordan De Goey in the centre of the MCG while the pair chased after a ball in dispute.
READ MORE: Fittler’s blunt message after star’s shock axing
READ MORE: Huge calls confirmed in Fittler’s Blues squad
READ MORE: Legend blasts Hawks star’s ’embarrassing’ act
Following the Blues’ thriller against the Magpies, coach Michael Voss suspected the injury would be on the “major end” with scans to confirm the severity in coming days.
“We think it will be more on the major end than on the minor end. He will go see a surgeon early this week and decide whether he has surgery. If it ventures into that space we are probably talking more a longer term: five, six weeks,” Voss told reporters.
“There are some challenges within that. I’ve spoken to the group about you get thrown spanners. Every team does throughout the season and you get challenged at different times. Through those periods of time, which is what we’ve done, we’ve been able to find a way. That’s what the challenge is ahead of us.
“We go to the break on the turn at 8-3, increased our own expectations of what our hopes are for this season. We’ve been able to do that by being able to manoeuvre through things, manage injuries and time on ground for some players. We’ve had some spanners thrown at us. We will keep working through it.”
Weitering’s injury continues Carlton’s wretched run this season, with leading goal-kicker Harry McKay, first-choice ruckman Marc Pittonet and defender Zac Williams all currently sidelined.
The Blues’ defence has also been decimated, with Mitch McGovern and Oscar McDonald already sidelined, and Voss admitted the club could use next week’s mid-season draft to bolster its defensive stocks.
“We’ll have a look at it, no doubt. We’ll be looking to take those spots if we can. The final details of that will come across in the next few days before the draft,” Voss said.
“We have a list-management committee, so anything that we go with is well discussed. We go through all the options. What we have to be really careful of, though, is not chasing something that we don’t need to chase. We’re not going to compromise our list build for that.
“I’d like to think there are a couple of specifics we’d like to go after, we still have a list that we need to manage from this point on. That takes a priority over anything else.”
The loss leaves the 8-3 Blues in fifth position on the ladder heading into a bye in round 12 before a round 13 clash with Essendon on June 10.