Newcastle Jets ace, Roy O’Donovan is expected to be sidelined for the next 3 – 4 weeks of the Hyundai A-League due to a groin injury.
The injury, which saw O’Donovan a late withdrawal from the Jets’ fixture with Sydney FC in Round 7, has been confirmed as a grade one tear to his adductor.
The marksman is certain to be out of action for the club’s upcoming clashes with Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City at home, as he works with the club’s medical team to return to full fitness.
Jets’ boss, Ernie Merrick said his in-form attacker would be working overtime to get back into the pitch.
“Roy’s a professional of the highest order and takes really good care of himself,” said Merrick.
“He’s also a real competitor and I know he won’t like to be missing games, so he’ll be doing everything he can to get this right and return to the starting XI.
“In saying that, we certainly won’t be rushing him back, it’s a long season ahead and we’d rather have Roy unavailable for a few weeks now than a large portion of the rest of the season.”
Merrick spoke with media on Monday morning and confirmed that he would not significantly change his starting XI and would continue with Andrew Nabbout in a central role during O’Donovan’s absence.
“”The bottom line is we’re still in a good position,” said Merrick.
“We’ve only lost one game, we won’t get too carried away – I’m not going to make sweeping changes.”
In a further injury blow, young custodian, Jack Duncan has been ruled out of Thursday’s clash with Victory with a foot injury.
“We’re not sure of the extent of the injury just yet, Jack will be having further scans and seeing a specialist later this week,” added Merrick.
“He’ll be unavailable this week and Glen Moss will come into the starting XI, we’ve got great depth in our keeping stocks, with Ivan Necevski continuing on the bench.”
The club will provide a further update on Jack Duncan’s injury once more details come to light.
