Eliza Reilly on Serong's Injury Management - CODE Sports (03.06.2026)

**Mark Duffield** (0:00)
Welcome back to the SENWA studio out here at Optus Stadium. We're here thanks to Beaumont Homes, award-winning design, built to be loved forever. Eliza Reilly is a gun rider for CODE Sports. She joins us on the show now. Eliza, welcome.

**Eliza Reilly** (0:19)
Good morning, Duff.

**Mark Duffield** (0:21)
Hey, what are you making of Fremantle and the Play It Safe policy with Caleb Serong ahead of the game against North Melbourne this week?

**Eliza Reilly** (0:33)
I think it's a pattern of behaviour that Fremantle have been exhibiting all season, so it's no surprise really that they're playing it safe, opting on the side of caution and deciding to give in that third week to come back from this calf injury, knowing that they're sitting pretty, have won 11 straight. They've done well in the midfield in the past few weeks without him and Hayden Young as well. So they obviously have the depth through there and guys are standing up like Matthew Johnson even though he came off late with that sort of hamstring awareness.
But Freemantle are getting it done in the midfield and whenever you look at players have come back from injuries so far this year, Freemantle have always opted on the side of caution and giving them an extra week. You think back to Brennan Cox earlier in the year was one who they gave an extra week, Hayden Young as well coming back from the hamstring early in the season. We've heard out of the Freemantle Dockers that those players could have played a week earlier but they decided to just hold them back in that one extra week of conditioning so I think it makes sense.

**Mark Duffield** (1:32)
The decision to take Caleb to Brisbane to get some needle work done which in the old days used to be something that your nanny used to do when she was mending your jumpers but now is something that helps you get over calf strains. Was there a specialist up there they were keen for Caleb to see?

**Eliza Reilly** (1:49)
Yeah, he's a bit of a guru. His name is Jim Bostock and he is well renowned within the Brisbane Lions camp but also the greatest sort of athlete community.
He helped Dane Zorko a few years ago get up for sort of a final series and he's also worked with Will Ashcroft, Cam McAvoy is obviously a swimmer and Wallaby star James O'Connor to name a few. But he's very well renowned for the work he does and obviously, Freemantle felt that it was going to be a good decision to take him across and get a bit of extra treatment that they couldn't necessarily get in Perth. The only sort of caveat to that is if he did miss sort of a rehab session or had to play catch up once he got back, that's sort of a concern from the strength and conditioning point of view, but the Freemantle doctors wouldn't have taken him over if they didn't feel like it was going to be beneficial to his recovery.

**Mark Duffield** (2:41)
Yeah, absolutely. They would have made it. And I'm sure they would have, if he was able to do rehab sessions, I'm sure he would have been able to do them under the watchful eye of their S&C staff that were with the team in Brisbane. Hayden Young's been a bit slow coming out of the concussion protocols. Is there any concern there and is he likely to play against North this week?

**Eliza Reilly** (3:03)
Yeah, obviously he's missed the three games in a row now, but you think back to when he initially did it in a training session leading up to a Thursday or Friday night game.
Obviously that was immediately going to rule him out for the two matches, given that there was the short turnaround between the two prime time clashes. But all things going well, Hayden Young is test for this week. And obviously they have their main training session on Thursday, and they're hearing tomorrow. But he trained yesterday. He's progressing well. And if all things go to plan and he has those final few boxes to tick, it sounds like he'll take his place back in the side.

**Mark Duffield** (3:40)
You mentioned Matt Johnson briefly. He did have that, well, it was at the very least, hamstring awareness at the tail end of the game against Brisbane. How's he tracking for the game against North?

**Eliza Reilly** (3:52)
Yeah, so surprisingly, his scans have come back really positively. Three man of doctors have said, and he trained yesterday and got up to the speeds and everything they needed to see from him. So functionally, he's pulled up really well, and they're hoping he'll be a test as well for this weekend. But again, if there's any doubt whatsoever, you'd expect that he sits out the one week. But the fact that the scans have come back clear and he's been training as he normally would suggest that he might be right to go, despite that minor scare late in the game.