There was some good, and bad, news from the Brisbane Lions’ medical room this week.

The bad news was that Ash McGrath would require surgery on a damaged tendon in his hamstring that effectively ends his 2012 campaign.

The good news was that Matthew Leuenberger is nearing his on-field return after a careful rehabilitation from an Achilles complaint, and defender Matt Maguire is also progressing well with his elbow injury.

As part of the regular Bupa Recovery Report on LIONS TV, Strength & Conditioning Coordinator Matt Hass also gave fans a detailed account of how Simon Black, Jared Polec and Mitch Golby were tracking with their rehabilitation and injury management.

“Blacky’s knee flared up in the warm-up. It was nothing too concerning, he just felt that he probably couldn’t make it through the full four quarters. So we decided to leave him out and bring Claye in,” Hass said.

“Jared Polec’s going OK. He had some slight foot soreness last week, but he’s progressing really well and should be available this week.”

“Mitch Golby’s got a stress reaction in his foot. We caught it fairly early, so it’s only minimal damage. He’ll be in a boot for 3-4 weeks.”

McGrath, meanwhile, will join Brent Staker (knee), Bryce Retzlaff (knee) and Brad Harvey (ankle) on the sidelines for the remainder of the season.