LOGAN McDonald looks set for an extended stint on the sidelines, with Sydney coach Dean Cox saying the forward’s ankle injury “doesn’t look good”.
McDonald has not played this season following post-season ankle surgery and he suffered another setback this week, with scans revealing a stress reaction.
The West Australian met a specialist on Wednesday, with Cox flagging he will be sidelined for some time.
“He’s seeing a specialist today. Obviously if you’re seeing a specialist, it doesn’t look good,” Cox said.
“So we’ve got to work our way through that and we’ll get more information by the end of the day. We’ll deliberate on that and work out the best action going forward.”
Logan McDonald at Sydney training on September 18, 2024. Picture: Phil Hillyard
Cox has conceded shifting Tom McCartin into attack hasn’t worked, with the star to play in defence against Gold Coast this weekend.
McCartin started in the Swans’ forward line against Port Adelaide before returning to his traditional role as a key defender in the second half of their eventual eight-point defeat.
First-year coach Cox has been experimenting with McCartin since the pre-season, with the positional shift compounded by the club’s injury crisis.
McCartin was tasked with leading the attack against Port, with key forwards Joel Amartey (hamstring) and McDonald (ankle) unavailable.
Cox flagged last month it would be “horses for courses” in terms of McCartin’s best fit throughout this season, but admitted on Wednesday that the 25-year-old has struggled with the rotating roles.
Sydney, now 14th after suffering its fourth loss of the season, faces Gold Coast (4-1) away on Sunday before hosting local rivals Greater Western Sydney (4-2).
“This week, he’ll (McCartin) play back,” Cox said on Wednesday.
“One thing we want from him, and we’ve said all the way along, we’ll do whatever’s best for the team.
“We have had a really inexperienced forward line group and, for him to do a whole pre-season there, (playing him forward) is an option we decided to take last week.
“And did it work? Probably not, so we put our hands up to that.”
Cox brushed aside scathing criticism from former Swans coach Paul Roos.
Roos, who coached the Swans before Cox’s predecessor John Longmire, blasted their lack of pressure and system against Port as “un-Sydney-like”.
The 2005 premiership coach also labelled their playing style under Cox as “Harlem Globetrotter-type” in the vein of the famous American exhibition basketball team, claiming they were over-reliant on stars Isaac Heeney and Chad Warner.
Cox did acknowledge his side had been relying on Heeney and Warner in their past two losses, including a 31-point defeat to Collingwood.
Sydney lost the opening-half tackle count 19-38 against Port then rallied late, with Heeney finishing with two goals in a comeback that fell short.
“(Over-reliant) is what we can’t be. I think that’s why we’ve lost both of those games,” Cox said.
“We want to work and be a really hard team to move the ball against, defensively.
“We need to give ourselves every opportunity to win the ball back as quickly as we possibly can, other than through our system, through intent and intensity.
“People, you know, they’re warranted (sic) to their opinion.
“It’s an area we know internally we need to work on and we’ll get to work on that.
