Jack Viney will have surgery on his Achilles injury on Tuesday and is set to miss at least three months, costing him most of the first half of the AFL season if his recovery goes well.
As recently as late last week, Melbourne fitness staff were hopeful that Viney would avoid surgery and be available for the early rounds of the season.
The Demons will be without Jack Viney’s ball-winning abilities in round one.Credit: Getty Images
That decision changed on Monday, with the 31-year-old leader booked for surgery.
The Demons’ conservative rest and recovery plan to manage the Achilles issue and avoid surgery meant that, coupled with a back injury, Viney barely trained over the summer.
When in January the midfielder attempted to lift his training to the next level, his Achilles flared again while his back also caused problems.
His lengthy absence means the Demons’ midfield, which was already to be re-cast after the trading out of Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver in the off-season, and the trading in of former Saints captain Jack Steele, will now be almost unrecognisable from the midfield set-up that has carried the club for most of the last decade.
Only captain Max Gawn will remain of the regular midfield quartet that will take on the Saints at the MCG in round one on March 15. Gawn is playing for Victoria in the State of Origin match against WA on Saturday night.
Melbourne will hope All Australian small forward Kysaiah Pickett can move into the midfield to join Max Gawn Credit: Getty Images
New Melbourne coach Steven King knew he was taking on the job with a different list to manage, but that is even more apparent now, without four players from the top 10 in the club’s best and fairest last year – Petracca was second, Oliver seventh and Viney 10th.