Bartlett has been sidelined for the past four weeks with a fractured cheekbone suffered in the Round 4 NEAFL match against Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium.
The injury came at an poor time for the unlucky 21-year-old, who had been in career-best form in the early stages of the Reserves’ season.
Bartlett was listed as ‘available’ on the Lions’ updated injury list on Tuesday, and Reserves Coach Leigh Harding said he expects the feisty midfielder to make the trip to Sydney, so long as he gets through this week’s training sessions.
In other good news, there were no new additions to the Club’s injury list, with Physical Performance Manager Brett Burton confirming a clean bill of health from the players who took part in the team’s Round 7 match against West Coast.
“We didn’t have any major injuries out of the weekend, which is good,” Burton said as part of the Bupa Recovery Report.
“We just had the normal bumps and bruises, a few corks and some general soreness here and there.”
Burton also suggested that veteran midfielder Simon Black will be better for the run after coming through unscathed from his first senior hitout for 2013.
“He’s pretty good for a 34-year-old. The old man pulls up pretty well most weeks,” Burton said.
“It was his first game back in the seniors and there was obviously a lift in intensity, so barring any incident this week he’ll get to roll around again.”
Senior Coach Michael Voss also hinted on Tuesday that Brent Staker could be an outside chance for a senior call-up this weekend.
Staker has played three reserves games since returning from a second knee reconstruction, but didn’t play last weekend due to the State game between the NEAFL and SANFL in Adelaide.
