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<\/p>\nJames Harmes has stepped away from the Western Bulldogs as the latest AFL premiership player to take personal leave from club land.<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au can confirm Harmes has remained away from the Bulldogs\u2019 pre-season training since the Christmas break and has no timeline on a return as he deals with a delicate personal matter.<\/p>\n
The 30-year old, who trained fully in the lead up to the Christmas break, is considered unlikely to feature early in the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
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Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n James Harmes has taken personal leave from the Bulldogs (Picture: Michael Klein)Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n It follows Collingwood Norm Smith Medal flag hero Bobby Hill<\/a> and Geelong premiership forward Tyson Stengle<\/a> taking leave from their respective clubs last week to deal with personal issues.<\/p>\n Harmes has been in and out of Luke Beveridge\u2019s side the past two campaigns, playing 22 of his 174 AFL games for the Dogs since the 2021 premiership Demon crossed to the Kennel at the end of 2023.<\/p>\n His three-year contract expires at the end of the season.<\/p>\n The rest of the Bulldogs players returned to pre-season training this week as the club tries to improve on its 14-win 2025 campaign and narrow finals miss.<\/p>\n The Dogs opens their season against reigning back-to-back premier Brisbane in Opening Round on Saturday night at the Gabba.<\/p>\n OLIVER SETBACK AS GIANTS DUO IN ORIGIN DOUBT<\/p>\n Giants recruit Clayton Oliver will spend a few weeks on the sidelines after an ill-timed setback as a star duo remain in doubt to line up in next month\u2019s AFL Origin match.<\/p>\n Giants coach Adam Kingsley on Wednesday told reporters that Oliver \u201chad a bit of a hiccup on Monday with a calf issue\u201d, but insisted it was \u201cnot a big deal\u201d as it\u2019d only \u201cput him back maybe a week or two\u201d.<\/p>\n A premiership Demon, four-time club champion, triple All-Australian and dual AFLCA Champion Player, Oliver was one of the biggest stories of last year\u2019s trade period, moving from Melbourne to the Giants \u2013 despite being contracted to the Demons until the end of 2030.<\/p>\n Clayton Oliver has suffered an injury setback (Image Supplied for Editorial Use only – NO ON SALES – copyright Phil Hillyard )Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n Kingsley said Oliver had \u201cfitted in really well\u201d at the Giants, adding he would complement fellow stoppage star Tom Green well.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, he\u2019s an outstanding stoppage player, so we feel like he\u2019s going to help that phase of our game.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo outstanding stoppage players (Oliver and Green), alongside the rest of our midfield, I think makes us a harder team to play against.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Greene and Hogan remain doubtful to line up for Victoria and Western Australia respectively in the AFL Origin clash.<\/p>\n Coleman Medallist Hogan, who underwent foot surgery after last season, is still a fortnight away from rejoining the main group, while Greene has spent ample time with the Giants\u2019 rehab group due to a glute injury.<\/p>\n Greene was seen running laps at Giants training on Wednesday. Kingsley said he was confident Greene would \u201cbe back on deck next week\u201d, but added he\u2019d be \u201ctouch and go\u201d for the Origin game.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s saying all the right things, his body\u2019s feeling good,\u201d Kingsley said. \u201cBut again, we\u2019ll take it step by step. (It\u2019s) not nursing him through this period because he is working quite hard, but we won\u2019t take any risks this time of year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe encourage our players to want to play (Origin). We think it\u2019s a great idea, we want as many of our players in that Origin team as we possibly can. But they\u2019ve got to be ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n ROOS CAUTIOUS AS VETERAN WITH \u2018HISTORY\u2019 SUFFERS SETBACK<\/p>\n North Melbourne defender Aidan Corr has suffered a pre-season setback, with the veteran\u2019s preparation for 2026 hitting a hurdle.<\/p>\n The Kangaroos on Wednesday confirmed Corr, 31, had suffered a \u201cmoderate-grade calf strain\u201d.<\/p>\n The injury is set to sideline Corr for the next four to six weeks.<\/p>\n Lenny Hayes confident in Saints role | 01:11<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll program a more graduated return to group training for Aidan given both the grade of strain and his history of calf injuries,\u201d North Melbourne head of performance Kevin White said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an unideal blow for Corr, who was restricted to just 10 games last season due to soft tissue issues.<\/p>\n The news comes days after emerging defender Jackson Archer ruptured his ACL, which will sideline him for the entire 2026 season.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is booked in for surgery in two weeks once there has been adequate time for swelling to subside to aid a better outcome with healing post-procedure,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe club will wrap its arms around Jackson and provide a strong base of support through this injury.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Harmes has stepped away from the Western Bulldogs as the latest AFL premiership player to take personal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[1142,638,49798,12093,64,63,689,55,639,684,3423,14349,32120,49796,7803,23296,49669,217706,30380,217713,20783,217710,217714,32663,217708,217712,115359,19972,5337,217711,64416,217704,663,647,217709,677,217707,217715,217703,217705,29987,15624,11330,8016,171619,85,1133,82592,660,3439,698],"class_list":["post-411643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-adam-kingsley","tag-afl","tag-aidan-corr","tag-another-fine-day","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ben-cotton","tag-ben-waterworth","tag-bobby-hill","tag-calf-injuries","tag-calf-issue","tag-clayton-oliver","tag-club-land","tag-club-tries","tag-cruel-setback","tag-double-blow","tag-finals-miss","tag-flag-hero","tag-flag-winner-steps","tag-four-time-club-champion","tag-giants-duo","tag-hogan","tag-ill-timed-setback","tag-injury-setback","tag-injury-update","tag-james-harmes","tag-kevin-white","tag-kilda","tag-lenny-hayes","tag-luke-beveridge","tag-melbourne","tag-moderate-grade-calf-strain","tag-oceania","tag-origin-doubt","tag-outstanding-stoppage","tag-outstanding-stoppage-players","tag-personal-leave","tag-phil-hillyard","tag-player","tag-pre-season-training","tag-premiership-player","tag-soft-tissue-issues","tag-sports","tag-trade-period","tag-tyson-stengle","tag-victoria","tag-western-australia","tag-western-bulldogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411643","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=411643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}