Melbourne’s finals hopes have received a huge blow with key forward Jesse Hogan ruled out for the rest of the year due to a foot injury.
The club confirmed on Tuesday that scans had revealed Hogan sustained a partial stress fracture of his navicular bone during the Demons’ nine-point loss to Sydney at the MCG on Sunday.
Jesse Hogan’s season is over.
“Jesse was hampered by that foot injury during the game. Despite playing out the game, we needed to investigate that yesterday (Monday), which we did,” Melbourne elite performance manager Dave Misson said.
“He had an MRI scan and a CT scan and what it showed was a partial stress fracture to the navicular bone. What that means for Jesse is that essentially his season is over. It can develop into a serious injury and we feel we’ve got it quite early.
“It’s not going to require surgery and we’re looking at a positive outcome for his preparation going into 2019. We think he’s going to be right to go for the start of pre-season, but unfortunately for the rest of this season, that’ll be it for Jesse.”
Melbourne’s injury woes don’t end there, however, with speedster Jayden Hunt ruled out for another two to four weeks due to an ankle injury after just returning to the line-up on the weekend following a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Meanwhile, veteran midfielder Bernie Vince won’t be available for six weeks after injuring his AC joint in the VFL on the weekend.
Defender Jake Lever (knee) won’t take any further part in the season while Jack Viney (toe) isn’t expected to be available until the finals if the Demons were able to qualify.
A top-eight finish has become a lot harder now for Melbourne given they are now sitting in seventh spot with tough games against West Coast (away) and GWS to come.
However, their task of beating the Eagles will be made a little easier now that Michael Hibberd (quad) and Jake Melksham (hamstring) are expected to be available for selection.
Season-ending injuries for clubs still in the 2018 finals race:
ADELAIDE
Brad Crouch (groin)
Taylor Walker (suspension)
COLLINGWOOD
Lynden Dunn (knee)
Daniel Wells (foot)
Matt Scharenberg (knee)
Ben Reid (calf)
Tim Broomhead (broken leg)
Kayle Kirby (heart)
ESSENDON
Shaun McKernan (hamstring)
Patrick Ambrose (hamstring)
Martin Gleeson (ankle)
Mason Redman (ankle)
Josh Begley (knee)
GEELONG
Cory Gregson (foot)
Aaron Black (knee)
GWS
Tom Scully (ankle)
Heath Shaw (knee)
Jon Patton (knee)
Will Setterfield (knee)
Lachie Tiziani (knee)
HAWTHORN
Cyril Rioli (retired)
Harry Jones (shoulder)
MELBOURNE
Jesse Hogan (foot)
Jake Lever (knee)
Billy Stretch (toe)
Corey Maynard (hip)
NORTH MELBOURNE
Sam Durdin (broken leg)
Ed Vickers-Willis (knee)
Declan Watson (knee)
PORT ADELAIDE
Charlie Dixon (ankle)
Hamish Hartlett (knee)
Matthew Broadbent (foot)
Willem Drew (heel)
Joel Garner (shoulder)
Sam Hayes (knee)
Emmanuel Irra (knee)
SYDNEY
Callum Mills (foot)
Sam Naismith (knee)
Alex Johnson (knee)
Matthew Ling (toe)
WEST COAST
Nic Naitanui (knee)
Andrew Gaff (suspension)
Eric Mackenzie (toe)
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