Midfielder James Aish will miss the remainder of the season with a finger injury.

The 20-year old ruptured a tendon on his index finger of his left hand during the loss to North Melbourne on Saturday night.

Aish done for Season

“Aishy had that (flexor tendon) operated on last night. To repair it they’re usually around a twelve week injury, so that will obviously be him for the season”, High Performance Manager, Brett Burton, revealed in the Bupa Recovery Report today.

Burton said the Bupa Recovery Team will monitor Dayne Beams and Pearce Hanley (who were late withdrawals on the weekend) throughout the week. Both will train in the main session tomorrow and their availability against Geelong will be assessed.

“Pearce actually got through the fitness test (last week) OK but we just thought with the inconsistencies he’s had with his training load the last couple of weeks, it was probably just too big a risk (to play him).

“It was the second time it’d happened within a month so we decided to get a good training session into him and get him ready for next week. 

“He trained really well on Saturday and will train again in the main session tomorrow. If he gets through that he’ll be available for this week.

“Beamsy’s got that shoulder he’s been carrying for most of the year so it was pretty sore. We elected to pull him out from the game on the weekend, he’ll train this week and hopefully be available”, Burton said.

In better news for the Lions, forward Michael Close, is making steady progress in his rehabilitation from ACL surgery. Close underwent knee surgery in mid-April after suffering the injury following the round two loss to North Melbourne.

Close determined to return bigger and better

“Closey’s going well. He’s back on deck and starting to build up his running load.

“He’s obviously got a fair way to go but hopefully he’ll be right by round one next year.”


Check out the full injury list at the Bupa Health Centre.