{"id":352438,"date":"2025-12-16T20:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T20:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/352438\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T20:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T20:24:11","slug":"like-new-recruits-10-injured-afl-stars-ready-to-make-a-comeback-in-2026-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/352438\/","title":{"rendered":"Like new recruits: 10 injured AFL stars ready to make a comeback in 2026 &#8211; AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/games-centre\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"305\" height=\"40\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" style=\"float:right;\" class=\"play-games-banner\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ZeroHanger_GamesCentre.png.webp.webp\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A club&#8217;s best recruit doesn&#8217;t always come from the draft or the trade table. More often than not, the best recruits come from the rehab group &#8211; a player returning to the main group after a long injury layoff.<\/p>\n<p>We analyse some of the competition&#8217;s best players set to return from injury in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>1Keidean Coleman<\/p>\n<p>It has been an injury-ravaged two years for Coleman after an incredibly promising start to his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AFL<\/a> career. He has managed just two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AFL<\/a> games across the past two seasons, restricted heavily by persistent knee injuries.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022 and 2023, Coleman elevated himself into one of Brisbane&#8217;s prime movers off half-back. His blistering speed and precise skills tore opposition defences apart, averaging just over 17 disposals, 300 metres gained and five marks per game in this period.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to SEN recently, Brisbane head of football Danny Daly said Coleman had returned to pre-season training in superb condition and was training well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast night watching training, his ability to hit those kicks through the corridor in a little bit of match sim type practice was unbelievable. You forget what type of footballer he is,&#8221; Daly Said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis ability to be able to penetrate with his kicking is exceptional \u2013 his 2023 Grand Final, he came runner up in the Norm Smith Medal. We&#8217;re looking forward to having a fit Kiddy Coleman back next year, which will be great for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"Pw1FcvDkQ-xC-135-oc46A\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2215103524\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n<p>        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;<br \/>\n                        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; A club&#8217;s best recruit doesn&#8217;t always come from the draft or the trade table. More often&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-352438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}