Injury Report: Round 20, 2025

High Performance Manager Ben Serpell gives this week’s Injury Report ahead of the side's Round 20 clash against Collingwood at the MCG on Sunday.

This Injury Report is brought to you by nib. With nib, life could be potentially amazing.

Fresh off a 49-point win against the Eagles, Serpell was pleased with how the majority of the side pulled up.

"I think the boys really enjoyed going over a day earlier and getting on the time zone there, and it played out quite well," Serpell said.

The VFL Tigers also competed in a scratch match over the weekend, giving players coming off the injury list some important football exposure.

03:16

"A few of our rehab boys went out and got a bit of footy exposure in a scratch match, so did Noah Balta. The boys came out of that really well," Serpell said.

"We saw Harry Armstrong out there, getting some good gametime, and again, he is available this week, with Josh Gibcus also continuing his return to play, getting some good game time in that scratch match as well.

"Kane (McAuliffe) featured in that scratch match. He pulled up quite well for that, and we will see if he can get through training this week and hopefully make him available for this weekend.

"The upside to that scratchy as well was we were able to get some good gametime into Tom Lynch, so we can make sure he comes back in a couple of weeks fully prepared."

Unfortunately, Seth Campbell has entered the concussion protocols due to a head knock in the second half of Saturday night's victory.

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE FULL INJURY REPORT.

01:32

Seth Campbell: Concussion, 1 week

"Seth has entered the protocols for concussion under the guidance of our doctor Jim Brennan, so we are hoping that he will turn around in 12 days, but as with all concussions, it's hard to tell," Serpell said.

"He should be available for Gold Coast in a couple of weeks."

Josh Smillie: Conditioning, 1-2 weeks

"Josh Smillie's conditioning is going really well," Serpell said.

"I said last week that he was going to be one to two weeks away, but I probably won't adjust that time zone this week because there wasn't a lot of footy opportunity.

"He will train fully this week and hopefully next week. There is a plane to Gold Coast next week (AFL and VFL double header). If not on that, then we will expect to see him out soon after."

Kane McAuliffe: Quad, Test

"Kane featured in that scratch match on the weekend," Serpell said.

"He pulled up quite well for that, and we will see if he can get through training this week and hopefully make him available for this weekend."

Mykelti Lefau: Calf, 2-4 weeks

"Mykelti is going ok," Serpell said.

"He probably didn't train as well as he would have liked last week. I probably don't want to change his timeline just now."

01:45

Liam Fawcett: Foot, 3-5 weeks

"Liam Fawcett is out of his boot and walking around," Serpell said.

"Hopefully, we see him starting some running today, and hopefully see him again in the backend of the year."

Thomson Dow: Patella, 2-5 weeks

"Thomson Dow hasn't really progressed with that knee," Serpell said.

"We will keep monitoring him and see how he responds clinically, and also expose him to a little bit more work in the gym.

"Hopefully his knee doesn't keep swelling, but unfortunately, I can't really update anything on him at the moment."

Campbell Gray: Knee, 5-7 weeks

"Campbell Gray came out of his brace today, so we will expect him to be training a little bit later this week," Serpell said.

"Hopefully it will be a bit of straight line running this week or early next week, and a bit of change of direction soon after."

08:58

Samson Ryan: Foot, TBC

"Samson is finally getting through a fair bit of work as he progresses to running, without any adverse effects the following day," Serpell said.

"We will look to increase his load over the next little while."

Sam Lalor: Hamstring, season

"Sammy is a committed athlete, and he went through surgery last week," Serpell said.

"According to the surgeon, everything went well. He has been at the Club today, and he is looking at things that he can already start to do, so we are expecting him to be fully fit and ready to train fully as pre-season starts in early November."

Click here to read article