JESSE Hogan (ankle/knee) and Christian Petracca (finger) face fitness tests for Sunday’s clash against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.

Elite performance manager Dave Misson confirmed the duo would be assessed later in the week.

Co-captain Jack Viney (ankle) is now just one to two weeks away, while Christian Salem, who broke his thumb last round, will miss round seven and possibly round eight.

Corey Maynard (hip) will now be out for six to eight weeks, while Aaron vandenBerg is a similar timeframe. Dean Kent (hamstring) and Mitch King (elbow) are four to five weeks away from playing. 

Youngsters Harley Balic (plantar fascia) and Lochie Filipovic (rested) will miss at least two weeks, while Pat McKennan (hamstring) remains indefinite.

Misson said the players had recovered well and were building for this week’s test against the Saints.

“It was a solid week. I think the easy thing was, on a five-day turnaround, is that you actually know you can’t do any training,” he said.

“It was an easy thing for us to focus on recovery and we’re pretty happy with the way the guys have performed.

“[St Kilda] is a team wanting to prove something, so they’re going to come out really firing and we want to try and get two on the trot, and start to build a bit of form.

“It’s going to be a good clash at Etihad [Stadium] – I don’t think we’ve had two games in a row at Etihad for a while – but our guys really enjoy playing at the venue, against a team that’s going to come out firing, so it should be a good contest.”

Misson’s injury assessments

Harley Balic (plantar fascia) – 2-3 weeks
“Harley’s just had a bit of plantar fascia going on for a couple of weeks. He started running on the weekend and was pain free, so we think he’ll be back fairly quickly, but it’s probably a two-week turnaround.”

Lochie Filipovic (rested) – 2 weeks
“Lochie’s been taken out of training just to manage his loads. He’s coming off a fairly low base as a young ruckman, so we want to take him out of the playing program for a couple of weeks, and get a fair bit of work into him, in the gym. [We just] want to work on his fundamentals and essentially unload his game time, but that’ll probably only be for two weeks.”

Jesse Hogan (ankle/knee) – test
“Jesse had a couple of things going on in the game [against Essendon.] He had that knee that he got a knock on and then he rolled an ankle. So, we’ll just assess him later in the week, but at this stage, he’s looking OK. But he’s got a little bit of work to do, but he’s a professional player and we hope he’s going to get up.”

Dean Kent (hamstring) – 4-5 weeks
“Kenty suffered a hamstring injury on Anzac Eve, so he’s probably four to five [weeks], I reckon.”

Mitch King (elbow) – 5-6 weeks
“Mitch had a reasonably nasty elbow injury in the VFL game against Richmond, so he’s looking at five to six weeks, I reckon.”

Corey Maynard (hip) – 6-8 weeks
“Corey’s had some grumbling hip stuff going on, for a little while now. It got to the point where it was really affecting his performance on game day, so we’re taking a pretty long-term approach with him, and making sure we get him right for the backend of the year. Again, he’s probably six to eight [weeks], I reckon.”

Pat McKenna (hamstring) – indefinite
“Patty, with that hammy, has been doing some really good work in rehab. He’s getting up to 75 to 80 per cent with his run throughs, but he’s still on the indefinite list.”

Christian Petracca (finger) – test
“Christian, with that dog bite last week, he’ll be a test this week. He’s out of hospital, and surgery went really well. It’s probably more about how we reload him and get him ready for the game, but we’ll just see how the wound looks.”

Christian Salem (thumb) – 1-2 weeks
“Christian hurt his thumb in the second quarter, which ended up being a fracture based on the scan we had yesterday (Monday). So, he’s done very well to play the rest of the game with that. But he had an operation yesterday to stabilise that fracture, so we’re hoping that it’s going to be a similar turnaround to Jordy Lewis, where he’ll only miss a week. But, being the thumb, it may need a little bit longer. But again, we’ll just assess him early next week.”

Aaron vandenBerg (ankle) – 4-6 weeks
“Vanders has been consistent now for a month, doing some great work in rehab, running fast and doing more and more footy work. He’s probably four to six weeks away.”

Jack Viney (foot) – 1-2 weeks
“Jack is essentially out of rehab now. He’s training with the main group, so he did the flush and craft session with the AFL guys today (Tuesday). He’ll train with the group on Thursday, so it’s really about how much work we think he needs before we tick him off to play, [but it’s probably] a couple of weeks.”

Melbourne injury list: round seven

Harley Balic (plantar fascia) – 2-3 weeks
Lochie Filipovic (rested) – 2 weeks
Jesse Hogan (knee/ankle) – test
Dean Kent (hamstring) – 4-5 weeks
Mitch King (elbow) – 5-6 weeks
Corey Maynard (hip) – 6-8 weeks
Pat McKenna (hamstring) – indefinite
Christian Petracca (finger) – test
Christian Salem (thumb) – 1-2 weeks
Aaron vandenBerg (ankle) – 4-6 weeks
Jack Viney (foot) – 1-2 weeks