This is by no means an excuse for our current form, but our guys down back haven’t had the greatest run with injuries so far this year and this week we lost two more of our ‘regulars’ in Ash McGrath and Matt Maguire.
Ash hurt his hamstring last week against North Melbourne and will miss around four weeks while ‘Goose’ will have to rest for the next couple of weeks to help heal a foot injury.
Josh Drummond is still rehabilitating from a knee injury he suffered back in Round 7 against Fremantle and I’m still a few more weeks away yet from getting back out onto the field.
Even Joel Patfull (hamstring), Andrew Raines (calf) and makeshift defender Jared Brennan (ankle) have missed games through injury at different stages this season.
On a positive note, it looks as though we might get big Daniel Merrett back this Sunday just in time to face Barry Hall and the Western Bulldogs. Dan has missed the past six matches with a hamstring injury and I’m sure all Lions fans will be looking forward to seeing him back in the senior side.
It certainly makes life pretty tough when you don’t have a settled backline each week.
But what it has done is provide more opportunities for other players to have a role in defence such as Travis Johnstone who I thought was fantastic last weekend.
Trav has settled into the half-back position really well this season and has been particularly good in our past two games.
James Hawksley is another guy who has really stepped up along with Brent Staker who was shifted down back a few weeks ago.
Hopefully these guys can stay fit and healthy and stick tight as a defensive group over the next few weeks.
A win is a must for the team this week against the Bulldogs so we can keep in touch with the top eight.
We officially head into the second half of the regular season this Sunday so wins and losses seem to become even more critical than ever.
