Melbourne recruit Michael Hibberd will still need up to three weeks to recover from Achillies soreness before he's ready to play after a slower than usual recovery time.
Hibberd felt Achilles tightness before Melbourne's final JLT Community Series game against West Coast, and was pulled out of the match as a precaution.
Melbourne elite performance manager Dave Misson said the club will take every precaution with Hibberd, as the former Bomber continues to get himself right on the sidelines.
"Hibbo settled really well over the weekend and he ran well [Tuesday] but because he's been a little bit up and down, he's probably a couple of weeks away," Misson told Melbourne TV for the club's website.
Misson also gave updates on the fitness of Aaron vandenBerg (heel), Josh Wagner (fibula) and Jay Kennedy-Harris (arm), as the trio all continue to work through their rehab.
“Vanders has that heel stress fracture and it’s been a little bit slow, so he’s still in a boot at the moment and will probably come out next week. He’ll need a reloading program to get him up to play.
“Josh started training Tuesday, so he’ll continue to do that for a couple of weeks, because he’s been out now for nearly five weeks. He’ll need a couple of weeks training before he comes back to play.
“Jay Kennedy-Harris is actually going really well. He sees the surgeon early next week to get the clearance for contact, so he could actually be training with the group by next week and playing the week after that, so he’s going well.”
