Ankle injury ends Joey Kerin's season and adds to The Rock-Yerong Creek injury list

Kerin, who kicked 25 goals in the first seven games before starting to play more on a wing, suffered a serious ankle injury playing OzTag in Canberra on Monday night.

"We've lost Joey Kerin for the year, he tore his ligament off his ankle," TRYC co-coach Heath Russell said.

"He was playing forward but we rated his speed, we probably don't have enough speed compared to those top teams, that's why we moved him to a wing.

"He'll be a loss with his field kicking and he was starting to find that role out there."

The Magpies were already reeling after the loss to the Bombers, with a shoulder problem to Joe Hancock (1-2 weeks), a groin injury to Harri White (2-3 weeks) and potentially worse news on Cody Cool's ankle.

"We haven't found out the full extent but it looks pretty severe," Russell said.

Cool has been one of the Magpies' most valuable players, ranging from key defender, to taking on the ruck duties, or bringing speed to a wing.

"He's really important. We've played him full-back, centre-half-back, forward, ruck, in the middle, on a wing," Russell said.

Cool started on Marrar star James Lawton last week before getting injured, forcing the Pies into a re-shuffle after they'd started with Jack Driscoll and Riley Budd forward.

In some good news, Budd (ankle) should be right for Saturday's game at Barellan, while ruckman Dylan Cook (cork) is also hoping to be fit.

Midfielder Hancock played out the game against Marrar despite injuring his shoulder in the opening minutes, but will miss the game against the Two Blues.

"He might have been right but we'd hate for him to get another knock and turn it into a more serious injury," Russell said.

The Magpies (fourth) face an important three weeks to build momentum before their bye, with Barellan followed by the two teams just below them on the ladder, the Northern Jets and Charles Sturt University.

"Obviously Barellan is a danger game. They've been playing some pretty good footy by all reports and to go out there with a few key movers down is going to test our depth... they've been talking about getting a scalp and we're sitting there," Russell said.

TRYC's goal has always been to make finals. But Russell reiterated that they won't take their eyes off a top three finish, and nor are they over-confident that a top five spot is locked in.

"If we lost all three we'd potentially be out of the five so it's a massive three weeks and we need to get a couple of wins to lock up that fourth spot," he said.

Russell said the 10-goal loss to Marrar was an illustration of their season.

"Our best is good. Our second quarter was really, really positive. It was was the best footy we probably played all year but we can't do it for long enough and when you're playing the Marrars and those top teams, they do," he said.

"They play three or four quarters of good footy and they don't let you get easy kicks or easy goals. Obviously our injuries were there but they weren't an excuse. They were there already when we had that run in the second quarter.

"We're not too down on ourselves, we understand we've got a long way to go but at the same time there are signs there that we are building."

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