COOLAMON prime mover Jeremy Sykes is expected to miss around six weeks, including Sunday's blockbuster against Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes, after injuring his medial collateral ligament in last week's win at Leeton-Whitton.
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Sykes' left leg got trapped awkwardly in a tackle early in the second quarter and tried to battle on, but called it quits soon after.
Although the Hoppers will be relieved it's not a season-ending injury, it compounded a tough day for the club with Luke Gerhard and Cooper Mckelvie also suffering hamstring injuries.
"It's just MCL, which is a lot better than it could have been. It's a bit loose around the ACL joint but there's no damage to it, which is great," Sykes said.
"I don't need surgery but I'll probably wear a leg brace for three or four weeks, and it's about six weeks (out) depending on how the recovery goes.
"I knew something had happened because I heard a pop. I knew something wasn't right but I tried to keep playing, I got another three minutes and couldn't go on.
"I got my leg caught and it was one of those awkward positions to be in, but that's footy."
The Hoppers face a tough fortnight, with the home clash against fellow unbeaten side MCUE followed by a road trip to Wagga Tigers next week.
Coolamon's reserves have racked up big wins the past two weeks, and Sykes is confident they have the players to hold the fort.
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"We had a couple of other injuries as well, but the good thing is the depth is there for a few blokes to really step up and take on those positions," Sykes said.
"We've got the depth this year to not only challenge everyone to keep their spot, but also to slot in if we have injuries."
Despite their unbeaten start goalkicking has been a concern for the Hoppers, after backing up an 11.23 (89) showing against Collingullie-Glenfield Park with an 11.20 (86) effort against the Crows.
"The good thing is from round to round we're building more as a team. But we're very inaccurate with our goalkicking at the moment, which is keeping teams in games for nearly the whole length," he said.
"In saying that it's building resilience in the group, because we've had to play four quarters to win the game.
"It would be nice to kick 20 goals instead of 20 points, but at least we're coming home with the wins."
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