Central Highlands Football League stalwart Jarrod Morgan has been forced out of Saturday’s AFL Victoria Community Championships bout due to injury.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Morgan, who has captained the league into battle in recent seasons, will miss due to a nagging calf issue sustained in the side’s win over Beaufort in round four.
The Bombers’ senior coach missed the following weekend’s clash with Hepburn and returned for last Saturday’s game against Waubra, but struggled throughout the encounter.
Morgan said it was disappointing to miss a representative game, but admitted he battled on the weekend and knew he wouldn’t be right to take his spot.
“I pulled up pretty average from the Waubra game and there was no point putting my hand up if I wasn’t going to be 100 per cent,” Morgan told The Courier.
Morgan missed the CHFL’s return to interleague competition in 2012, but has played every year since.
Despite being ruled out of playing on Saturday, Morgan will form part of the coaching panel that works under head coach Clive Raak.
He will be joined by fellow assistants Grant Luscombe, Matt Beaston and Johno Leoncini. Luscombe is a former Waubra coach, while Beaston and Leoncini are currently at the helm of Carngham-Linton and Clunes respectively.
Other key players missing from last week’s squad are Beaufort livewire Jack Duke and Springbank defender Sam Cue, who are understood to have respective calf and hamstring injuries.
And in a late blow, Buninyong winger Jarrod Rodgers went down with a hamstring strain at training on Thursday night.
Rodgers has been replaced by Clunes’ Jesse Baird, who was one of three emergencies in the Highlanders’ senior squad.