Bell Park could be without Ollie Bridgewater until the middle of the GFNL season after suffering a badly broken leg during a practice match appearance with VFL reigning premier Werribee.
The 24-year-old had a rod inserted in his leg after undergoing surgery at Frankston Hospital yesterday (Sunday) after suffering the break in the second quarter of Friday night’s clash with Frankston at Seaford.
It is understood an opponent fell across the South Warrnambool product’s leg during a contest.
“He’s doing okay, given the circumstances,” Dragons coach James Saker said.
“He’s spent a couple of nights in hospital but been operated on, which we’ve been told has been a success.
“He’ll do some resting up in the next couple of weeks and then see a specialist and go from there.
“Three to four months (on the sidelines) is what he’s been told.
“But it’s probably one we wait and see for a couple of weeks when he sees the specialist.”
As K rock Football reported last week, Bridgewater only received a call to join training at Werribee due to injuries to fellow Werribee-listed GFNL rucks Tylar Watts and Ben Kellett.
“I was very happy for him because he’s a really driven young man,” Saker said.
“Part of him coming to play his footy in Geelong was with a view to potentially have an avenue to play some VFL footy, and that eventuated in somewhat unique circumstances.
“But to have his first foray into the world of VFL stopped in its tracks like that’s really disappointing for him.
“He’s a very strong, resilient young man, and I’m sure he’ll come back from it.”
Saker says Bell Park will liaise with Werribee through Bridgewater’s rehabiliation.
“We’ll work with Werribee to help him with his recovery,” he said.
“He’s in really good hands.”
Saker admits telling his players of Bridgewater’s situation as they started their pre-season camp at Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus on Saturday, where former St Kilda star Justin Koschitzke was guest speaker, “took a bit of air out of the sails”.
However, Ainslie recruit Oliver Hicks impressed in match simulation and shapes as the likely replacement for Bridgewater.
The Dragons have three practice matches through March before making the trip to Colac on April 5 to start their season.
“He’s got a lot of tools that can play a second ruck role quite well, and (there are) some other options in the mix there that we can throw around,” Saker said.
“Not ideal to lose him when we have. But, we do have some time to look at some different combinations and different set-ups and see what’s going to work.”
X: @krockfootball
