{"id":867570,"date":"2026-08-25T06:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T06:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/867570\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T06:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T06:50:14","slug":"afl-2026-melbourne-quartet-in-race-to-be-fit-for-wildcard-final-against-carlton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/867570\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Melbourne quartet in race to be fit for wildcard final against Carlton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne coach Steven King says midfielder Jack Viney is \u201cdefinitely in the frame\u201d for a return in this weekend\u2019s wildcard final.<\/p>\n

The Demons tackle Carlton in a do-or-die final after losing to Western Bulldogs in round 24.<\/p>\n

Viney made a successful comeback through the VFL a fortnight ago after persistent back and achilles setbacks plagued a large portion of his season.<\/p>\n

But, according to King, the tough on-baller is knocking hard on the selection door.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s probably five, six or seven players that trained strongly over the weekend that will definitely come into the mix (and) Jack is one of them,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Jake) Melksham, Xavier Taylor, Max Heath, Paddy Cross \u2013 there\u2019s a few that are ready to step up again.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast week was a finals-type game as well, it\u2019s probably just more the lead-in (for Viney), playing just the one VFL game and then training.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had another month up our sleeve we would have a bit more data and we\u2019d sort of know where we\u2019re at a bit more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I do know is that Jack is a Melbourne man \u2013 he plays the game in a way that\u2019s built for finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be no questioning whether what he\u2019ll bring will be up to AFL intensity, it will be how long he can sustain it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen also making sure he\u2019s ready, the temptation would be to throw him out there, but I want to make sure we look after Jack.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Demons are monitoring the fitness of Jake Lever, Daniel Turner and Matt Jefferson after last week\u2019s bruising loss.<\/p>\n

King says the trio will have until training on Thursday to prove their fitness ahead of Carlton.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurner will have a run around today, probably Jefferson and Lever are a bit sorer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut from what we thought initially, it\u2019s a lot better. We\u2019ll give them to later in the week to see where they\u2019re at (after) they\u2019re off legs today.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurner will train a little bit this morning, but obviously with a seven-day break, we get the opportunity to wait until Thursday to really see where they\u2019re at.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re all a chance \u2013 the feedback initially was that they might be on the more severe side, but after getting them scanned, we\u2019ll just see how they respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think how they recover and how they\u2019re feeling, I am not going to put anyone that\u2019s in any doubt out there in a final for their own welfare but also for the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to make sure we pick a team that\u2019s (healthy) \u2026 it\u2019s going to be a fairly intense game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as AFL 2026: Melbourne quartet in race to be fit for wildcard final against Carlton<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne coach Steven King says midfielder Jack Viney is \u201cdefinitely in the frame\u201d for a return in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[436438,436453,376963,436449,436459,391002,382125,436463,404514,433225,380489,376730,404506,436435,381261,382482,436439,436462,387445,376637,638,231397,436450,436465,436451,406221,64,63,55,639,6856,69075,436434,24706,16308,436452,70214,436441,14595,1910,19082,436455,436446,7145,13307,171062,242771,36889,390984,436456,436454,436436,436437,436432,43961,394738,436461,436458,436448,3173,436460,436464,85,436457,186758,400474,436442,391003,74713,436440,382332,436445,380430,436433,315971,436443,436447,411956,404940,98734,22514,436444,436431,31007,199184,379782,9357,24080,1542,35399,390982,698,354915,15691],"class_list":["post-867570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-s-bruising-loss-king","tag-s-wildcard-final","tag-a-bit","tag-a-do-or-die-final","tag-a-fairly-intense-game","tag-a-few","tag-a-final","tag-a-finals-type-game","tag-a-fortnight","tag-a-large-portion","tag-a-little-bit","tag-a-lot","tag-a-melbourne-man","tag-a-quartet","tag-a-return","tag-a-run","tag-a-seven-day-break","tag-a-successful-comeback","tag-a-team","tag-a-way","tag-afl","tag-afl-2026","tag-afl-intensity","tag-all-a-chance","tag-another-month","tag-any-doubt","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-carlton","tag-daniel-turner","tag-dees-quartet","tag-demons","tag-finals","tag-finals-selection","tag-fitness-watch","tag-his-season-but","tag-jack","tag-jake","tag-jake-lever","tag-jefferson-and-lever","tag-just-the-one-vfl-game","tag-king","tag-last-week","tag-legs","tag-matt-jefferson","tag-max-heath","tag-melbourne-coach-steven-king","tag-melbourne-quartet","tag-melbourne-superstar-jack-viney","tag-melksham","tag-midfielder-jack-viney","tag-more-data","tag-newswire-sport","tag-no-questioning","tag-our-sleeve","tag-paddy-cross","tag-persistent-back-and-achilles-setbacks","tag-race","tag-round-24-viney","tag-six-or-seven-players","tag-sports","tag-the-blockbuster-final","tag-the-demons","tag-the-feedback","tag-the-fitness","tag-the-frame","tag-the-game","tag-the-lead-in","tag-the-mix","tag-the-more-severe-side","tag-the-opportunity","tag-the-selection-door","tag-the-team","tag-the-temptation","tag-the-tough-on-baller","tag-the-trio","tag-the-vfl","tag-the-week","tag-the-weekend","tag-their-fitness","tag-their-own-welfare","tag-this-morning","tag-this-week","tag-this-weekend","tag-thursday","tag-today","tag-training","tag-turner","tag-viney","tag-western-bulldogs","tag-wildcard-final","tag-xavier-taylor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867570","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=867570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}