Connor Chapman is racing the clock to recover from an ankle injury suffered in last weekend’s 2-1 win over the Brisbane Roar.
The Newcastle Jets are facing the prospect of being without their two key defenders for Sunday-s game against the Melbourne Heart at Hunter Stadium.
Kew Jaliens is sidelined for one week due to a red card while Connor Chapman is racing the clock to recover from an ankle injury suffered in last weekend-s 2-1 win over the Brisbane Roar.
“Connor-s out on the pitch at the moment and is coming along quite well,” assistant coach Craig Deans said on Wednesday.
“It was quite a decent sprain…we just need to get the scans done, have a look at those, then see the full extent of the damage.
“We-ll probably take it day-by-day at the moment.
“They have the day off tomorrow so it gives him another full 24 hours of recovery and we-ll see how he is.
“I think if he does get back in it-ll be a good effort.”
While Deans admits it isn-t ideal to lose both defenders for Sunday-s clash, he is confident in the depth at the Club.
“Those positions, and your goalkeeper, are three people that if you could, you-d have them play nearly every minute of every game,” Deans added.
“Especially with someone like Kew coming in adding the stability that he has.
“To lose him and then to lose Connor as well would be disappointing but we do have full confidence in the players that can come in, that they-ll do a good job.
“We have Taylor Regan, Josh Mitchell and Jacob Pepper can play there as well, Scott Neville could come in from right back and play more central.
“We-re confident that the players we-ve got can come in and fill the gap that Kew and maybe Connor will leave.”
Chapman trained lightly with physiotherapist Rob Dingle while the main group were put through a gruelling conditioning session at Ray Watt Oval on Wednesday.
“I think we have to be guided by the physio and what he thinks (about Connor playing),” Deans said.
“If there-s a risk of doing more damage then it-s probably a risk that-s not worth taking but as I said we have tomorrow completely off and we can reassess him after that.”
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