Ugle-Hagan nearing return to Dogs training
Andrew Wu
The Western Bulldogs are hopeful star forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan will be back training at the club as early as Wednesday.
Ugle-Hagan trained with the Indigenous All Stars squad in Perth last week and had been in good spirits at a Fox Footy shoot on Monday night, according to Dogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli.
Hit hard by injury, the Dogs will be missing five of their best team when they kick off their season against North Melbourne.
Adam Treloar, Cody Weightman, Liam Jones and Jason Johannisen are all out for lengthy periods, and there is uncertainty over when Ugle-Hagan will be ready to play after missing a large chunk of the preseason to deal with personal issues.
“It’s good to see him at training,” Bontempelli said. “He’s had a nice weekend away with the All Stars game and around the Indigenous lads.
“We were there last night. We had our Fox shoot for the year, it was good to see him running around out there, having a kick, enjoying himself. No timeline, no expectations from my perspective, just have him back in the program whenever we can.”
Top Tiger Lalor suffers cracked jaw
Peter Ryan and Michael Gleeson
Richmond No.1 draft pick Sam Lalor suffered a fractured jaw in a practice match collision that also left him concussed, but the Tigers remain hopeful he will play in their first game next month.
Lalor will have surgery for the “undisplaced hairline fracture of the jaw”, which was confirmed by scans on Tuesday morning.
Due to being in the concussion protocols after the head collision in Monday’s match practice, the 18-year-old had already been ruled out of next Wednesday’s charity shield clash against Collingwood, but the Tigers are hopeful he will face the Blues in round one.
Meanwhile, dual best-and-fairest winner Cam Guthrie has had minor surgery on his troublesome Achilles in a move the club hopes will fast-track his recovery.
The forgotten midfielder has played just 10 games in the past two seasons since being equal best and fairest in the Cats’ premiership year in 2022 and will be unavailable for round zero.
Cam Guthrie has played just 10 matches since being a key player in the club’s 2022 premiership.Credit: Getty Images
The operation was described as a clean-up after Guthrie again experienced soreness in his Achilles as he tried to ramp up his preparation.
The decision to have minor surgery was made in the hope he could return early in the season and his preparation is only expected to be interrupted in the short term.
Cats’ football boss Andrew Mackie said surgery gave Guthrie the best chance to return his left Achilles to full function.
“The aim for Cameron is to be back on the track in the next fortnight and integrated into football drills within the month. A return to play timeline will be finalised in the early stages of the season,” Mackie said.
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Guthrie suffered a toe injury early in the 2023 campaign and then played just four matches in the first half of last season before being sidelined with an Achilles injury.
He made a late bid to play in the finals series, appearing for the Cats’ VFL team in finals before Geelong were knocked out in the preliminary final.
The Cats are in good health as they prepare to play Essendon in their final practice match next Tuesday before opening the season against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba on March 6.
Shaun Mannagh is aiming to make himself available for selection in the opening round after battling a foot stress fracture during the pre-season while young ruckman Toby Conway is progressing well after a back injury interrupted his pre-season.
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