Sydney officials are sweating on the severity of champion midfielder Josh Kennedy’s potentially season-ending hamstring strain suffered in the VFL on Sunday morning.
Kennedy hurt his left hamstring lunging towards North Melbourne’s Tarryn Thomas as the Kangaroo burst out of the center in the second quarter at Arden Street Oval.
The Swans are referring to the 34-year-old’s setback as a strain but remain unsure of how serious it is. He won 10 disposals before limping from the field.
Kennedy’s injury coincided with Kangaroos star Ben Cunnington playing his first game in 379 days since being diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Cunnington, who won the first center clearance of the match, finished with 18 disposals and three tackles before calling it a day at three-quarter time.
Kennedy’s hopes of forcing his way back into the Swans’ senior side for finals now hang by a thread.
He was Sydney’s medical substitute last week but has otherwise played at second-tier level for the past month since missing eight weeks recovering from a serious right hamstring tendon injury against Carlton in May.
Swans coach John Longmire has consistently praised Kennedy’s attitude and leadership this season while he adjusts to going from an all-time club great to being a fringe member of the squad.
Kennedy is yet to indicate publicly whether he plans to continue into a 17th AFL season next year that would give him the chance to bring up his 300-game milestone.
The former co-captain has appeared only 11 times at senior level this season, which would be the lowest in his 13 seasons in Sydney after crossing from Hawthorn.
Kennedy’s honor roll includes playing in the Swans’ 2012 premiership, winning three Bob Skilton Medals as the club’s best and fairest and being a triple All-Australian.
He has won the most contested possessions (4006) of any AFL footballer since the statistic was recorded.
There’s fears Sydney veteran Josh Kennedy has played his last match after suffering another hamstring injury in the VFL.
Plus the Saints’ sweat on Dan Hannebery’s fitness after the luckless midfielder goes down once again.
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SYDNEY veteran Josh Kennedy could potentially be “pushed into retirement” after another hamstring injury; this time suffered in the VFL on Sunday.
Kennedy missed 10 matches after a horror hamstring tendon injury suffered against Carlton back in Round 10.
He made his return as the medi sub last round, but didn’t get on the field.
So the Swans made the call to send Kennedy back to the VFL. But he has now injured the hamstring on his opposite leg.
Kennedy limped off the ground in the second term after trying to lay a tackle on North’s Tarryn Thomas.
“It’s disastrous developments,” Fox Footy’s Jon Ralph said.
“It seemed to be a really serious hamstring injury.
“The worst case scenario for a hamstring tear at the high end scale or a tendon injury probably puts him out for the rest of the season and potentially pushes him into retirement.”
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PORT ADELAIDE star connor rozee will undergo scans after a knee scare in Saturday night’s loss to Richmond, but club doctors are confident the mercurial midfielder has avoided significant damage.
The 22-year-old limped from the ground in the second quarter at Adelaide Oval after his left leg twisted awkwardly under him as he attempted a quick change of direction.
He was clearly in pain as he was assessed on the sideline and was taken to the changerooms for treatment before half-time, then shortly emerged with the knee heavily strapped to play out the second half.
The Power was playing for pride only, having been knocked out of finals contention by Collingwood, but coach Ken Hinkley was comfortable with the decision not to put the young star in cotton wool.
“What you do when you manage a player is you have good conversations with the medical team and they were very certain and sure that there was not going to be any further damage done,” Hinkley said.
“It was about whether the pain was manageable for Connor and he seemed to think it was.
“You wouldn’t take a risk with a player like Connor, and we never do, regardless of the state of the season.
“(The medical staff) said structurally it’s all fine so that should give us confidence.”
RICHMOND are waiting on the results of scans on defender Nick Vlastuin after he was subbed out of the win over Port Adelaide.
Vlastuin sustained rib damage in a collision with Charlie Dixon, with Richmond coach Damien Hardwick conceding it is unlikely the important defender will be fit to take on the Hawks on Sunday.
He could also be in doubt to face Essendon in Round 23.
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GEELONG are taking a cautious approach with star Patrick Dangerfieldafter the veteran was a late withdrawal from Saturday’s win over St Kilda.
But Cats coach Chris Scott is confident Dangerfield will be fit to face the Gold Coast next weekend.
“The feedback I’ve got from him and the medical staff is that he’s fine,” Scott said.
“He just felt some awareness (of calf tightness) in the warm-up and I think in the past he’s pushed through these things thinking he’d be fine.
“And even if there was a one per cent chance that he might do some damage, he wasn’t prepared to take it. So it seemed a logical call.”
ST KILDA coach Brett Ratten says Dan Hannebery is in a race to be fit for the must-win clash with Brisbane on Friday night.
The injury-prone Hannebery was subbed out of the loss to Geelong with an ankle injury.
He’s managed just 17 games for the Saints since crossing from Sydney at the end of 2018 due to ongoing soft tissue injuries.
Hannebery is also out of contract at the end of this season.
“We’ve just got to look after him,” Ratten said.
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“It was a risk to put him back out there; we’re not taking a risk with a player we are trying to get up for next week.
“He might not even get up this week. We’ve just got to work through what it will look like for Dan post this game.
“He’ll be a test all the way until the last day. It’ll be tight.”
Ratten conceded Hannebery was in “a bit of discomfort” post match but said if he provided himself fit, he’ll keep his spot in the line up to face the Lions.
FREMANTLE‘s Matt Taberner is racing to be fit to face West Coast in next weekend’s Western Derby after being subbed out of the win over the Western Bulldogs.
Taberner failed to see out the match once again, this time with a calf issue, after being restricted to just 12 games in 2022 due to back and hamstring complaints.
Coach Justin Longmuir said the latest setback was disappointing.
“He was looking dangerous again so it’s disappointing for him and us,” he said.
“We’ll rehab it and see what the rest of the year looks like.
“We’ll see what the scan says and see what the doctors recommend for his time out but there’s not much of the season left to be too cautious so we’ll see how it pans out over the next couple of days.”
