Charman was hurt during Friday night's loss to Collingwood and he joins the club's other main ruckman Matthew Leuenberger on the sidelines.
Leuenberger is on the long-term injury list with a knee injury and will miss three months of football.
Lions coach Michael Voss said while Leuenberger’s injury was a worst-case scenario, Charman’s sprained ankle was not that bad a result.
“It’s just a matter of how it settles down and we hope that it’s more the lower end of the scale, but like any ankle they can get better quickly and then they can tend to hang around for a little while before they make any more progression,” Voss said.
The double blow leaves the Lions reliant on key position prospect Mitch Clark and possibly Jared Brennan to take on Geelong at Skilled Stadium on Sunday.
Brennan himself has only just returned from a quad injury.
“I mean Jared Brennan’s only just getting his feet back too so we don’t want to put too much strain on him,” Voss said.
Another possibility is to elevate 18-year-old rookie Daniel Murray but he too has only played one Lions reserves game since coming back from a long-term groin injury.
Voss says Murray's 200cm; 98kg frame gave him the size to compete at the top level.
“That’s one of the reasons why we recruited him because of that size and he has fair mobility about him, but I think as a match committee you’ve got to sit down and really go over the pros and cons of whether you bring someone in so early and whether he’s ready,” Voss said.
The ruck crisis prompted Voss to suggest that clubs could be allowed to bring in a state league player to fill the breech in certain cases.
“There might be an [opportunity] for a state league player that’s playing outstandingly well back in Western Australia or South Australia or Queensland,” Voss said.
“It’s something for perhaps even the AFLPA to think about in terms of presenting opportunities for other players that aren’t necessarily just on an AFL list.
“There’s always a few that slip through the cracks, who have started their year very well, they’ve been passed on from another club or someone who’s developed quicker than what they thought.”
Voss did deliver one piece of good news at Monday's press conference, confirming that midfielder Jed Adcock's ankle injury was not too severe and he may be fit to line up against the Cats.
