The banged-up Brisbane Lions will be without important forward Eric Hipwood, and likely star midfielder Lachie Neale, for the rest of their premiership defence.
Dual Brownlow medallist Neale injured his right calf in the 16.16 (112) to 11.8 (74) qualifying final defeat to Geelong at the MCG on Friday night.
It was Neale’s first game in more than a month, having been sidelined for the last three games of the home-and-away season due to a quad complaint.
Neale will join premiership defenders Jack Payne (knee) and Noah Answerth (achilles) on the sidelines.
Hipwood didn’t play against Geelong due to a calf injury, but a scan has also revealed a partial tear in his left ACL.
The 27-year-old will have surgery in coming days in a bid to have him available during the 2026 season.
Hipwood, incredibly, could have been playing with the injury for months.
“Having Eric miss the finals series through injury is really devastating for him and his family and for us as a club,” Lions football boss Danny Daly said.
“It’s an incredible effort by Eric to have been playing each week with this injury and still giving his all to the team regardless.”
On Friday night, Lions coach Chris Fagan admitted he was “not expecting great news” from Neale’s scans on Saturday after returning to Brisbane.
“Looks like he’s done a calf, so that’s not a good thing,” Fagan said.
“He’s a pretty tough sort of guy, can usually play through those, but he couldn’t.
“It takes a lot for him to come off, so I’d suspect it’s something significant.”
Neale still gathered 32 disposals against the Cats, but had limited influence on the game as he was part of a Lions midfield that was badly beaten.
Brisbane overcame major adversity last year, winning all four finals en route to their first flag in 21 years.
But it will take something equally as special for them to repeat.
Fagan admitted he hadn’t thought about if they could go all the way without Neale.
“I’m just worried about trying to win a game next week,” he said.
“He’s a great player so obviously he helps, and we’ve got quite a few other guys who are injured at the moment and not playing, so whether that adds up to too many injuries and makes it difficult.
“But give a lot of credit to Geelong … they were magnificent.”
Brisbane’s lacklustre performance against the Cats showed they are missing the star power up forward of Joe Daniher, who retired after last year’s grand final win.
“There won’t be an overreaction,” Fagan said.
“We’ll just do what we always do — have a look at the vision and find out where we made errors, and how we can improve.
“For next week, it’ll just be as simple as that.
“I’ve got a lot of faith in this group.
“We can make a drama out of it, but they’ve been in the last seven final series and done some pretty good work in that time.
“It’s not always going to be a bed of roses.
“Every now and then you’re going to meet an opponent, like we did, who were red-hot.
“We’ll just stay calm and do what we always do.”
If the Lions are able to avoid going out in straight sets and win through to a preliminary final, they would face Collingwood at the MCG.
AAP
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