Anglesea has suffered a blow less than a fortnight out from the start of the new Bellarine season, with star recruit Tevan Nofi facing at least a month on the sidelines.
The two-time Leopold premiership star and Drysdale best-and-fairest suffered a dislocated elbow in the Roos’ practice match win over VAFA club St Bernard’s at Ellimatta Reserve on Saturday.
Coach Jordan Keras says Nofi is facing the prospect of surgery.
“He went up for a pretty decent mark, and it was just a really innocuous landing,” Keras said.
“He actually landed on his back but somehow dislocated his elbow in a rare turn of events… it’s extremely uncommon to see an injury like that.
“He’ll have to get some surgery, we think, at this stage.
“But, I’ve been reassured that it’s one of those things that can look a lot worse than what they are, (but) we won’t be seeing him in the first month of footy, I wouldn’t have thought.”
Keras says Anglesea will have to adjust its defensive structure ahead of its Round 1 meeting with Drysdale.
“We will do a little bit of restructuring,” he said
“A big focus for our playing group from the start of pre-season was to have guys playing in multiple positions, training in multiple positions.
“We do have a bit of a plan B, but Tev is irreplaceable.”
In a further blow for last year’s grand finalists, midfielder Jack Rice will miss the season with a ruptured ACL suffered at training, joining Harrison Veale and Courtney Wedderburn, who both require shoulder surgery, in missing the 2025 season.
Keras says Rice’s knee received a knock from a teammate’s head.
“He’s a very underrated player,” Keras said. “In my opinion, he’s one of our most important.
“It’s just going to allow another younger player to fill the role there and get some games into them.”
X: @krockfootball
