Gary Ablett out for Clash with Western Bulldogs, Mark McVeigh to Undergo Knee Surgery

A few key injuries have been confirmed, with Gary Ablett’s ankle not going to be right for the titanic clash between Geelong and Western Bulldogs this weekend. (no 1 and no 2 on the ladder respectively):

GEELONG’S Gary Ablett has no chance of overcoming ankle ligament damage in time to face the Western Bulldogs in their sold-out top-of-the-table clash at Kardinia Park on Saturday, coach Mark Thompson revealed yesterday.

“We only just found out a couple of hours ago that he’s going to be in the moon boot for another day or so, so we don’t give him any chance,” Thompson said, adding that he was in doubt to play Hawthorn the following week.

“You don’t know how he’s going to come out of the boot … how quick he’s going to heal.”

This puts both Ablett and Ling out for the Cats (it was noted that Ling has put his hand up for the Hawks game in two weeks time) as they come into arguably the biggest game of the season thus far.

In other news, the Bombers Mark McVeigh is set to undergo knee surgery that will cause him to miss up to 5 matches:

“He will see knee specialist Julian Feller tomorrow to have surgery to repair the damage,” said Essendon team manager David Calthorpe.

“He will be sidelined for up to five weeks which is obviously a big blow for the club as he is such an important player and has been in good form.

“It is an old injury that has flared up over time this season and, unfortunately, it has reached the stage where we need to rectify it.”

This is bad news for the Dons who are trying to keep their finals hopes in a game against the Tigers that could be the final nail in the seasons coffin for the losing team.