Cats physio Mike Snelling confirms Andrew Mackie is on the mend after enduring a nasty knock to his back on Thursday night at the SCG.
Snelling admits they were originally concerned about the severity of Mackie’s injury but fortunately he has been given the all clear, which means he’ll be a test for this weekend.
“Obviously we were concerned about his back and he had a little bit of spasm there but we were also initially concerned about his kidney,” Snelling told Cats TV.
“Thankfully that’s come up really well so there’s no issues there.
“He was a little bit stiff the day afterwards but he’s progressed very well this week and we anticipate again for him to try and train on Wednesday and he’ll be a test for this weekend and hopefully he comes up.”
Another player who is on the verge of his AFL return is Allen Christensen.
Snelling says the exciting midfielder, who has been recovering from back surgery, is likely to re-join the Cats VFL list as early as this weekend if all continues well.
“He’s a very much needed player and he’s been looking fantastic on the track and his fitness has improved dramatically,” Snelling said.
“So hopefully he’ll get out there with the VFL list this weekend and get a bit of match practice and before long we’ll see him playing in the AFL.”
Luckless Josh Cowan unfortunately is still restricted to his rehabilitation program after experiencing an issue in his other Achilles.
“We know last year and the beginning of last year he had some problems with one of his Achilles and now it’s the other side.”
“As we tried to load him he got a little bit sore so that’s proving a little bit difficult to rehab - but he’s going through the processes and he’s had another intervention today and we’ll see how he pulls up from that.
Despite Cowan’s unlucky string of injuries the Cats are determined to get him back on the track.
“Our aim is to get him back playing as soon as we can so that he can get into some form and show us how good a player he really is.”
Click on the video above to hear more on Josh Caddy’s and Lincoln McCarthy’s progress with Mike Snelling.
