{"id":69624,"date":"2026-08-11T11:41:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T11:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/69624\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T11:41:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T11:41:31","slug":"melbournes-jack-viney-to-return-via-vfl-ahead-of-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/69624\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne\u2019s Jack Viney to return via VFL ahead of September"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Melbourne\u2019s squad is set to be bolstered on their run into September with vice-captain Jack Viney and youngster Latrelle Pickett returning to their VFL side.<\/p>\n<p>Viney hasn\u2019t played since round 24 last season after battling an achilles tendon issue that forced him into surgery and then a back issue.<\/p>\n<p>When asked whether Viney had to earn his spot or if he was an automatic selection once ready, coach Steven King said the star midfielder\u2019s selection was \u201cnot about earning\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>King said Viney wouldn\u2019t \u201cjust be given a game on reputation\u201d after spending some time with the VFL side, who play Box Hill in their final game of the season on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just about making sure he\u2019s had a great runway to set him up to succeed,\u201d King said on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s coming from a back injury that has held him out for the whole season, so we have to respect what he\u2019s been through.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like you can\u2019t just get given a game on reputation and you have to actually perform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first thing for him is just to get through a whole game\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Demons coach also confirmed Pickett would return through the VFL this weekend after spending two weeks out with concussion.<\/p>\n<p>King brushed off the Herald Sun\u2019s reports of the club confronting Pickett over reportedly drinking in the aftermath of his concussion, labelling it a \u201cbit of a non-story\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was surprised when I heard something was in the paper today,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a first-year player who\u2019s still just finding the balance between being a professional and a first-year player.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom me, there was no sanction, no conversation. I was surprised it was an article this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>King also said star forward Brody Mihocek had returned to light jogging after being ruled out for the season due to a neck injury during the King\u2019s Birthday clash, but he wouldn\u2019t \u201cbe out there with (them) this year\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Demons head to Adelaide to take on the Power this weekend before finishing the season at home against the Bulldogs in their bid to make top four.<\/p>\n<p>Read related topics:<a class=\"topic_tag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/topics\/melbourne\" data-tgev-container=\"story-topic-links\" data-tgev-label=\"Melbourne\" data-tgev-order=\"1\" data-tgev-metric=\"npv\" data-tgev=\"event10\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne\u2019s squad is set to be bolstered on their run into September with vice-captain Jack Viney and youngster&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[93328,40974,93320,93324,93310,88234,93304,93301,36519,93300,38123,93312,93307,93327,93316,56854,93309,395,40351,93314,44338,93326,15401,25305,93323,93321,93313,57532,52,36167,34736,45588,93325,93299,260,93305,36526,1080,86988,93329,93298,40666,93308,85880,32197,39887,41631,19816,5619,37402,64451,74970,39770,93317,61606,5606,46847,53836,42025,43078,90531,93302,93306,93315,54760,93318,93303,93311,37242,40130,39096,31666,93330,36985,37397,93319,53956,93322],"class_list":["post-69624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-s-birthday-clash","tag-s-challenge","tag-s-most-respected-players","tag-s-reports","tag-s-selection","tag-s-squad","tag-a-back-injury","tag-a-back-issue-when","tag-a-bit","tag-a-first-year-player","tag-a-game","tag-a-great-runway","tag-a-long-lay-off","tag-a-neck-injury","tag-a-non-story","tag-a-professional","tag-a-whole-game","tag-adelaide","tag-afternoon","tag-an-achilles-tendon-issue","tag-an-article","tag-an-automatic-selection","tag-box-hill","tag-brody-mihocek","tag-coach-steven-king","tag-concussion-king","tag-his-concussion","tag-his-spot","tag-home","tag-jack-viney","tag-king","tag-last-season","tag-light-jogging","tag-long-awaited-vfl-return","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-coach-issues","tag-morning","tag-newswire-sport","tag-no-conversation","tag-no-sanction","tag-pickett","tag-reputation","tag-returning-dees-star","tag-round-24","tag-september","tag-some-time","tag-star","tag-sunday","tag-surgery","tag-the-aftermath","tag-the-balance","tag-the-bulldogs","tag-the-club","tag-the-demons-coach","tag-the-first-thing","tag-the-herald-sun","tag-the-king","tag-the-paper","tag-the-power","tag-the-season","tag-the-star-midfielder","tag-the-vfl","tag-the-vfl-side","tag-the-whole-season","tag-their-bid","tag-their-final-game","tag-their-run","tag-their-vfl-side","tag-this-morning","tag-this-weekend","tag-this-year","tag-today","tag-top-four","tag-tuesday","tag-two-weeks","tag-vice-captain-jack-viney","tag-viney","tag-youngster-latrelle-pickett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69624","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=69624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}