Kangas Injury Update

North Melbourne have revealed the extent of their injury problems after a dramatic weekend fixture against St Kilda saw the Kangas down to 17 fit men late in the contest.

There were problems for Adam Simpson (calf), Daniel Pratt (knee), Daniel Wells (hip), Lindsay Thomas (groin), Ben Warren (cheekbone), Sam Power (concussion) and Sam Wright (knee), along with Jack Ziebell being a late withdrawal with gastro.

But North Melbourne football operations manager Donald McDonald revealed to the media the extent of the problems today.

McDonald admitted the big names (Simpson, Pratt and Wells) should be okay for next weekend's match at AAMI against the Crows.

"Simmo pulled up alright today and he'll just take it easier during the week but he'll be right to train. We'll have our main training session later in the week because we play Sunday, and the longer week will suit Simmo. Pratty should be all right too," McDonald said.

"Wellsy has had this for a few weeks and it got a bit sore. He's pulled up all right. He's still a bit sore this morning but nothing out of the unusual. He'll be right to train later in the week and should be right to play," McDonald added.

McDonald though, revealed less positive news about youngster Warren who will miss 3-4 matches after fracturing his cheekbone.

"He's had the surgery and that went all right, but the doctors were hopeful the injury wasn't as bad as that and they had to do a little more work than they thought they would.

"Sometimes on the severe end it can be four to six, so this is about what we hoped it would be."

Another Kangas youngster, Sam Wright, will be unavailable for next week at least, with a slight kneecap problem.

"He'll be one to two weeks. It's not as bad as what we first thought. He'll definitely miss this week and then he'll have the bye before he's a chance to play the week after that," McDonald said.

McDonald didn't reveal more on Thomas and Power, but it seems likely the pair will be okay for next weekend, while teenager Ziebell has recovered from gastro and should be available for the trip to South Australia.

There was more injury news for the Kangas, with McDonald revealed injury-troubled youngster Robbie Tarrant would miss the rest of the season with a shoulder reconstruction needed.

McDonald said, "He just fell on the shoulder out at Casey Fields (in the VFL reserves), but until then he had been playing really well."

On the plus side, McDonald did add that promising 21-year-old early-season DT favourite Liam Anthony is close to his debut after recovering from injury.

"Liam Anthony is another. He would have played round one but had a stress fracture on the eve of the season, but he had his second game back (in the reserves) and his form was really good.

"He'll come under consideration and if he doesn't get a game this week, he'll be under consideration for the week after the bye.