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“Amazing” young gun’s intra-club showing the positive for Dogs amid more injury woes
Lachlan Geleit, SEN • February 3rd, 2025 1:33 pm
The Western Bulldogs are dealing with another injury blow with Liam Jones suffering a hamstring injury at an intra-club match on the Sunshine Coast on Sunday.
While the extent of Jones’ hamstring concern isn’t fully known, AFL Media’s Josh Gabelich expects the veteran to be in doubt for Round 1 against North Melbourne as he joins Adam Treloar (calf), Jason Johannisen (hamstring) and Tim English (abdominal) on the injury list.
“With just 40 days between now and that season opener against North Melbourne, I think Liam Jones is going to be facing a race against the clock to be fit,” Gabelich told SEN Whateley.
“Intra-clubs are fraught with danger, but this one was pretty unfortunate. It was pretty innocuous, it happened quite late in the game … he leapt for a mark and immediately knew something was wrong because he handed the ball over and walked around the boundary for 150m with their medical boss.
“You could just tell from their body language that there was an issue … they'll get that scan done this morning.
“It is a shame and it's another injury issue for them right now.”
While the Dogs haven’t had an ideal pre-season with Jamarra Ugle-Hagan also on a modified training program away and Treloar’s injury putting pressure on a midfield that lost some depth during the trade period, Gabelich expects young on-baller Ryley Sanders, who has trimmed down this summer, to thrive in an increased role after dominating Sunday’s intra-club.
“Treloar’s a frustrating one, this summer he's barely been part of the main group because he’s had a series of calf strains and the most recent one was about seven or eight days ago which has ruled him out for the best part of 10 weeks,” Gabelich said.
“They're going to put him through a decent block once he overcomes that strain. But that rules him out, essentially of the first month of the season.
“Clearly, it’s not ideal for them, given they lost Jack Macrae, they lost Bailey Smith, they lost Caleb Daniel going back to deadline day.
“But I have to say there are some players that are really pushing for a spot in that side to start the year and Ryley Sanders is the one, he was amazing yesterday in what he did in the intra-club.
“He's had a really strong pre-season, hasn't missed a session, and looks really driven. He was disappointed with how his debut season eventuated in the end … but I interviewed him yesterday and he had 30+ disposals and kicked three goals.
“He’s dropped seven or eight kg across the off-season and when you see him in action again, you're going to see a very different physique.
“I think Ryley Sanders is a player that we're going to see spike this year.”
The Bulldogs open their 2025 campaign with a Round 1 clash against North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on March 15.
