Injury could open the door for club to blood some of its younger talent.
The Western Bulldogs’ chances this AFL season have suffered a significant blow in the wake of news Shaun Higgins will not play another minute in 2013.
Higgins had scans on his injured foot this week which confirmed he had broken the navicular bone in his left foot in his side’s loss to Richmond last round.
The seemingly innocuous injury has claimed big scalps before, with James Hird and Matthew Egan both being forced to retire.
However, Bulldogs’ medical services manager Andrew McKenzie believes the 25-year-old Higgins has plenty of time left in his career to recover from the debilitating injury.
“The nature of navicular injuries, means we’ll obviously take full caution with how we approach Shaun’s rehabilitation,” McKenzie said.
“Shaun is a resilient character and will leave no stone unturned in his recovery from this set-back.”
The injury to Higgins opens the door for Jake Stringer who impressed for the club’s VFL feeder club Williamstown last weekend.
If selected, Stringer will bring size to the forward line as he possesses a body more akin to a player who has played at least three years in the top grade.
In other injury news for the Bulldogs, defender Easton Wood and Tory Dickson will miss the side’s game this weekend North Melbourne.
Scans revealed a hamstring tear for Wood resulting from this side’s big loss against Richmond while Dickson will go under the knife for a ruptured lateral ligament in his left ankle and will miss the next two months.
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