INJURY: Western Bulldogs coach confirms star forward is ruled out of AFL season
Western Bulldogs coach confirms fears on forward’s injury timeline
“We’ve just got to get used to that.”
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has confirmed that star small forward Cody Weightman will not play AFL football this season, with the star’s ongoing injury setbacks having clouded Weightman’s short-term future.
Weightman was initially set to miss just the first half of the 2025 AFL season after undergoing knee surgery in February, as he deals with a complicated patella injury due to a rare congenital condition.
After going under the knife in the pre-season, Weightman has had multiple setbacks occur, which have required additional surgery and delayed his return to action.
Weightman required surgery again at the beginning of April, with a third round of anesthesia reported to occur again this month.
The roadblocks have clouded Weightman’s return to football this season, with Beveridge confirming after the Western Bulldogs’ 91-point win over Essendon that Weightman will not play in 2025.
“We won’t get ‘Flea’ Weightman back now this year, we’ve just got to get used to that,” Beveridge said.
“Now he’s processed the fact he’s not going to play – he’s not relieved, because he’d love to play, but he’s okay, got peace of mind.
“Now he knows what he can do in the meantime. He’ll probably have another surgery between now and the end of the year, that’ll happen in the not-so-distant future.
“But as you’d expect, he’s such a great human being, he wants to know what his role is off-field, he wants to know how he can help. So, we’ve got to find something for him.”
The Bulldogs continued their stellar start to their 2025 campaign with a resounding win against the Bombers, despite still playing without key members of the side.
Adam Treloar and Liam Jones have been out, in, and back out again with respective hamstring and calf injuries this season, while the Bulldogs are now missing Sam Darcy due to his injury setback sustained in Round 6.
Despite their injuries, the Bulldogs’ depth has stood up to the challenge, with the Bulldogs boasting a 6-4 record and the best percentage in the competition.
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