Former Dandenong Stingray Lachie Whitfield has suffered a relentless ankle injury this year but has admitted he will be able to ‘manage’ his way through the rest of the AFL season.
Whitfield went to the GWS Giants at Pick 1 in the 2021 National Draft and has played 177 AFL games since.
The dashing right-footer made a return on Sunday against North Melbourne after a three week layoff.
“It’s been good to just get out there,” he said in a media conference.
“I have been a bit jealous watching over the last month, with a bit more of a game style and ball movement.
“I still felt a bit rusty, missed a few kicks and didn’t cover the kilometres I usually do, but it was just good to be out there.
“I pulled up well, I just have a bit of an ongoing ankle issue that is probably not going to go away for the year, but it’s manageable.
“At this stage probably (will get surgery at the end of the year), but things can change, I think we have a good physio department here (GWS), I got really well looked after in the three and a half weeks I had off.
“It felt good on the weekend, I would probably nurse a bit through the back end of the week’s to get up, but we will see how we go this week.”
Whitfield and his Giants have had many epic battles with the Western Bulldogs over the years, and the 27-year-old is hoping this Saturday night is no different.
“Yeah definitely, we sort of always eye off when we have the Bulldogs in the year because we have a bit of a rivalry with them,” he said.
“The fact we get them on a Saturday night at home is huge for us.
“We have got a bit of momentum over the last month, so it will be good to see where we’re at against a really good quality team.”
