Reid’s AFL comeback stalls again

Luckless Collingwood star Ben Reid has suffered another injury setback as he tries to return to the AFL.

Coach Nathan Buckley revealed on Monday night that the 2011 All-Australian key defender failed to play out his VFL game on the weekend.

Reid went to Germany for treatment after a calf injury late last year.

He only managed four games last year because of soft-tissue injuries.

“He’ll have a scan at some stage over the next couple of days,” Buckley told the AFL360 program.

“But it is a quad ‘nick’ – we think it’s superficial.

“That’s generally been what we’ve seen with him – it’s systemic.

“They’re not big tears.”

Despite the setback, Buckley is confident that Reid eventually will return to the AFL.

“We’ve been really enthused by his last three months and coming back from Germany, the work he’s been able to put in, we feel like he’s made great progress,” Buckley said.

“We’ve been at pains that we’re going to take our time with him.

“We have to get him up and running and when he’s up, it will be for the long term.

“So we’re still in the same process.

“We believe we’re going to get an All-Australian player back.”

And Buckley is confident this latest injury is only a temporary setback.

“The docs have pretty much said that this is going to be really minor,” he said.

“I don’t reckon he’ll play this week, but I reckon he could be back at training in a week and then it will be building back up.

“But a lot of things we’ve put in place are taking hold and gaining traction.

“He’s had a stiff run, but he’s actually a lot better off than he was and we’re more confident now than we were six months ago about the outcome for him.”

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