MERRIVALE assistant coach Matt Brown is confident the Tigers can cover injured mentor Jason Rowan.
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Rowan is expected to miss six weeks after having surgery on a broken finger sustained in the Tigers’ 24.16 (160) to 2.4 (16) belting of Panmure on Saturday.
Brown said Rowan left the field in the third term and went straight to hospital. He was operated on on Sunday morning.
“He got it wired back together and got it stitched back together where the skin opened up because of the break,” he said.
“It’s looking like he will be six weeks out.
“He was in a marking contest and the ball hit the end of his hand.
“He didn’t notice he’d hurt it and kept playing but he looked down and there was blood everywhere.”
Brown is confident the Tigers can adapt without their star forward.
Former coach Karl Dwyer kicked five goals and Jyron Neave four against the Bulldogs.
“The boys did well once he was off,” Brown said.
“There were different avenues to goal instead of focusing on Jase and it really opened up.
“It was good to see Karl back for his first game of the year. He’ll probably run through the midfield throughout the year but with Jase gone he’ll play predominantly at full-forward.”
Panmure coach Joe Kenna said Merrivale midfielder Alister Porter highlighted his credentials as a match-winner against his side.
The second-year Bulldogs mentor said the Tiger jet gave his undermanned outfit headaches.
“Alister is crucial to their side, and along with Sam Gleeson, was a driving force for them,” Kenna said.
“They’d be very happy to have him back because the way he plays sets the tone for their side.”
Kenna and Shaun Griffin were sidelined early with hamstring strains.
The Bulldogs also lost skipper Sam Mahony to a calf issue prior to the match while Jack Cameron played the game out sore.
“It was one of those days where anything that could go wrong did go wrong,” Kenna, who will have scans on his hamstring, said.
“I only took part in 30 seconds of the game and then did my hammy.
“I don’t know the severity of it. It literally happened at the first bounce and we lost Shaun Griffin straight after that.”
Kenna said the injury woes impacted the Bulldogs’ ability to run out the match, as evidenced in the final term when the Tigers piled on seven unanswered goals.
“We lost our main onballers so we had to shuffle things around,” he said.
“It unbalanced us a fair bit.
“We had no rotations after half-time and that made it hard on the guys out there.”