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North Melbourne vs Geelong Cats — AFL 2026 Round 23

Round 23

Match details

Home & Away
Round 23
North Melbourne
vs
Geelong Cats
Round Health Score (0–100), last 5 rounds. Scores drift down league-wide as the season's injury load builds — read the slope relative to the league, not the level.
Round health
Round Health Score (0–100), last 5 rounds. Scores drift down league-wide as the season's injury load builds — read the slope relative to the league, not the level.

Round health not yet available.

Season
Season

Head-to-head

8Ongoing injuries7
3Long-term (LTI)2
Last month air km
Squad stabilityNTH 10thGEE 12th of 18

Value-weighted players used — 1st = most churn of key players, 18th = most settled. Weighted by player value (our metric), not raw squad size.

Soft-tissue = the OSIICS muscle/tendon family — the injuries most prone to recurrence (NTH 1, GEE 2).

What do these scores mean?
Round Health
— point-in-time (0–100, 100 = no injury absences), weighting current ongoing absences on a fixed scale comparable across rounds. The league average drifts down as the season's injury load builds, so low late-season numbers are normal.
Season Health
— cumulative season-to-date: value-weighted injury burden, availability and incidence. Load-managed rests are excluded from both.
Mon 10 Aug · Time TBC·Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
State
VIC
Surface
Hybrid surface
Roof
Retractable roof
Capacity
56,347

Possible returns

Currently-injured players who could feature — fitness tests, squad signals and projected returns.

NTH
GEE
  • Jack Henry
    In contention
    Head/NeckNeck Injury (General)Due today
  • Mark O'ConnorDEF
    In contention
    QuadricepsQuadriceps StrainDue today

Returnees to watch

Recently back from injury and still in the elevated-reinjury window — risk concentrates in the first games back, especially for soft-tissue.

NTH

None in the window

GEE
  • Jacob Molierback from quadriceps · 1 game backSoft-tissue return — recurrence risk is highest in the first games back.

Current injuries

The confirmed outs for both squads (11 across both), ranked by impact. Players in doubt are listed under Possible returns above.

GEE hold a slight availability edge (8 ongoing injuries to 7); NTH 3 of them long-term.

NTH6 out
  • Toby PinkDEF
    LTI

    ShoulderShoulder Dislocation

    Long-term
    FragileDue Oct 1
  • Ankle/FootFoot Fracture

    Long-term
    Due Oct 1
  • KneeACL Tear

    Long-term
    Injury-proneDue Jan 11, 2027
  • Groin/HipGroin Strain

    Minor
    Due Jul 25
  • Head/NeckConcussion

    Minor
    Due this week
  • George WardlawMID
    Recurrence

    HamstringHamstring Strain

    Minor
    FragileDue Aug 8

Signals

  • 1recurrence
  • 4durability-fragile
  • Body regions: 2× systemic/other
  • What they lose: 3 of 6 outs are defenders

Recurrence flags repeat injuries to the same body region within 24 months.

Injury classifications use the OSIICS system (Orchard Sports Injury and Illness Classification System). © John Orchard — Free to use with acknowledgment.