was \u201cgetting close to \u201c ruling Viney out for the year.<\/a><\/p>\nBut the hard-nosed Demon took what King aptly described as \u201csteps forward\u201d this week. <\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes when you increase load your body either shuts down or responds well, and he\u2019s taken a couple of steps forward now,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe he\u2019s through that barrier where he can string a couple of sessions together and go from there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to put any timeline on it because he could get three-quarters of the session today and pull up a bit lame.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never close the door on any player. Likewise, I try not to talk about players that are injured because there\u2019s not much I can do about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just work with the players that are available, make sure you get the best out of them, and it\u2019s a nice little treat when you get some depth back in your list.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think at the moment, we\u2019ve had some players who have been out for a long time starting to return and it gives you a bit more depth.<\/p>\n
Viney will be in the stands for Melbourne\u2019s Friday night blockbuster against Geelong with improved defender Daniel Turner.<\/p>\n
Turner was ruled out for four weeks after sustaining a rib injury during last round\u2019s win over North Melbourne and being sent to the hospital.<\/p>\n
King said Turner was difficult to replace but was confident the Demons had \u201coptions\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a big loss because I think he\u2019s one of the best key defenders in the game,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got options, we\u2019ve got main training today, there\u2019s a few there.<\/p>\n
\u201cTommy McDonald, Lucas Cook is back from injury, Xavier Taylor, there\u2019s a few options, (Harrison) Petty is available this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could easily swing down back as well for us. We\u2019ll get through training today and sit down as a match committee and work out what works best against Geelong\u2019s forwards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christian Salem is edging towards a return, while Changkuoth Jiath is also in the frame to play despite hobbling from the field last week.<\/p>\n
Originally published as AFL 2026: Melbourne veteran Jack Viney takes \u2018steps forward\u2019 to return from injury<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a fresh pulse in Melbourne veteran Jack Viney\u2019s season. Viney participated in the Demons\u2019 training on Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[53979,53991,53980,53960,53962,36519,37114,53966,47330,53975,53968,40993,53999,53963,53977,44822,53988,36956,53959,53976,53992,53997,54002,53972,53984,47622,45245,1416,53987,51258,34672,53974,9705,34736,54004,37392,25302,53986,54003,53996,260,53958,54000,53961,36526,1080,4315,53998,43700,37298,37432,53964,6901,53978,53995,53967,53973,38182,53969,39770,53983,53970,38464,39932,53981,40472,53990,53957,37772,39779,41731,53994,38650,53993,38964,53965,31666,53971,2716,54001,53956,22441,53985,53982,53989],"class_list":["post-55681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-s-forwards","tag-s-friday-night-blockbuster","tag-s-season","tag-s-win","tag-a-big-loss","tag-a-bit","tag-a-couple","tag-a-debilitating-back-injury-it","tag-a-few","tag-a-few-options","tag-a-fresh-pulse","tag-a-long-time","tag-a-match-committee","tag-a-melbourne-star","tag-a-nice-little-treat","tag-a-return","tag-a-rib-injury","tag-a-week","tag-afl-2026","tag-any-player","tag-any-timeline","tag-casey-fields","tag-changkuoth-jiath","tag-christian-salem","tag-demons-star","tag-footy","tag-four-weeks","tag-geelong","tag-harrison-petty","tag-his-return","tag-ice","tag-improved-defender-daniel-turner-turner","tag-injury","tag-king","tag-last-round","tag-last-week","tag-lifeline","tag-load","tag-lucas-cook","tag-main-training","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-coach-steven-king","tag-melbourne-veteran-jack-viney","tag-more-depth-viney","tag-morning","tag-newswire-sport","tag-north-melbourne","tag-only-last-week","tag-options","tag-players","tag-progress","tag-sessions","tag-signs","tag-some-depth","tag-some-players","tag-steps","tag-that-barrier","tag-the-best","tag-the-best-key-defenders","tag-the-club","tag-the-cusp","tag-the-demons","tag-the-door","tag-the-field","tag-the-frame","tag-the-game","tag-the-hard-nosed-demon","tag-the-hospital-king","tag-the-moment","tag-the-players","tag-the-session","tag-the-stands","tag-the-year","tag-the-year-but","tag-this-week","tag-three-quarters","tag-today","tag-tommy-mcdonald","tag-training","tag-turner","tag-viney","tag-wednesday","tag-xavier-taylor","tag-your-body","tag-your-list"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}