Suns hope young gun Andrew has avoided serious injury

Gold Coast defender Mac Andrew was forced out of the Suns' thrashing of Geelong with a lower leg injury as coach Damien Hardwick will nervously await an update.

DAMIEN HARDWICK, coach of the Tigers looks on during the AFL JLT Community Series match between the Richmond Tigers and the North Melbourne Kangaroos at Ikon Park in Melbourne, Australia.
DAMIEN HARDWICK, coach of the Tigers looks on during the AFL JLT Community Series match between the Richmond Tigers and the North Melbourne Kangaroos at Ikon Park in Melbourne, Australia. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Gold Coast hope talented young key defender Mac Andrew has avoided a serious lower leg injury after he was substituted out against Geelong.

The 20-year-old started Thursday night's 26.8 (164) to 15.10 (100) win brilliantly and had 10 disposals, six intercept possessions and five marks before a collision with teammate Ben Ainsworth.

He was replaced by Alex Davies at halftime at Darwin's TIO Stadium and given his strong start to the season, will be sorely missed if unavailable.

"Look, it's a little bit precautionary. Obviously he had some some issue with his lower leg," coach Damien Hardwick said.

"So once we find out, you'll find out. We hope it's not too serious, but we're not too sure. So once we get a fair indication of what that looks like we'll pass on the information.

"It was like a kick, I think. So look, whether it's a little little fracture in his fibula or something, we're not too sure. We're hoping for the best.

"But once again, he's such a brilliant player, the kid, like you look at him and he's one of those players that people want to see playing.

"So hopefully he's all okay and hopefully he gets a glass of cement and he gets on with it next week."

Jack Lukosius had been one of Hardwick's options to swing back if Andrew is unavailable, having played there earlier in the season.

But after five goals and five goal assists against the Cats, he appears destined to stay in attack.

"He was great tonight, he's been great the last couple of weeks," Hardwick said.

"He's done some really nice things, uses the ball really well, probably just hasn't had his kicking boots this year and (this was) probably the first time I saw the scoreboard reflected his dominance of the game," Hardwick said.

"He's also playing second ruck for us, which we love.

"He's just a really, really smart player, valuable player and he's one of those ones as a coach you make some decisions.

"And the good thing about it is he proved himself right. He sees himself as a forward and good on him. I'm really happy for him."