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Matthew Jefferson#21

MEL - Melbourne
FWD
Age: 22 years
Career Games: 23
Debut: 2025
Height: 195cm
19Low Risk

Quick Stats

23
Career Games
Total AFL matches played
16
Season Games
2026 AFL season
2
Career Injuries
Recorded injury incidents
3
Games Missed
2026 season · injury-related

Currently injured — out since 22 Aug 2026 (53d) · Hurt a knee during the Round 24 game against the Western Bulldogs.

Current Status

Injured
Season over

Knee Injury (General)

Targeting Round 1, 2027

Road to Recovery

Clinical progress for this injury — fitness tests, setbacks, and reassessments as they were recorded.

Knee Injury (General)View full detail
  1. R2422 Aug

    Occurred

    Hurt a knee during the Round 24 game against the Western Bulldogs.

  2. 1 Sept

    Reassessment

    Auto-promoted to POSSIBLE for Round 26 (expected return 2026-09-05)

  3. 1 Sept

    Setback

    Melbourne's season ended in the Wildcard Round, so there is no remaining fixture for him to return in this year.

  4. 20 Sept

    Progress update

    The club's 2026 season is over and no fixture remains, so the lapsed return forecast is retired to the 2027 pre-season; the next possible return is pre-season training.

    Return revised: 5 Sept → 1 Mar

Risk Profile

2 factors identified
Recent injury

Carrying an ongoing injury from the last 2 months — the most recent setbacks weigh heaviest.

Injury severity load

Severity-weighted total across 2 recorded injuries — more severe injuries weigh more; those older than 24 months count half.

Note:Risk factors are derived from a heuristic (injury history, age, workload, recurrence) — a placeholder while the ML model is pending. Bars show each driver's relative contribution, not an exact running total.

Career Durability

69
Injury-prone→
Rank: 344 (56th percentile)

2026 Season (Active)→

Games Played16 / 23
Goals0

On pace for 12.7 games (on track)

Status: Active

Component Scores

Games Consistency78/100
Age Factor90/100

Recent Form (Last 3 Seasons)→

Weighted Average11.5 games
Recent TierInjury-prone

Career: 3 seasons, 7 games (2.3 avg)

Career Timeline (Completed Seasons)

Above average
Below average
Games played per completed season
SeasonGames played
20230
20240
20257
Durability calculated from 2 seasons of data (v2.2-availability-weighted)
Last updated: 12 Oct 2026

Injury Profile

2
Total Injuries
6
Games Missed
0
Soft Tissue
2
Structural
0
Contact (impact)

Injury Categories

Structural2 (100%)

6 games missed · Last: Aug 2026

Durability Impact

Soft Tissue PenaltyNone
Injury Frequency Score80/100
⚠️2 injuries in the past 12 months
OSIICS © John Orchard — Free to use with acknowledgment.

Travel Burden

5.70k km
Total km
Interstate flights this season
6
Trips
Out of 16 games played
356.2
km / game
Average per appearance

Interstate flights only. Same-state and home-venue games count as 0 travel. Excludes games the player did not feature in.

Season Availability

Every round of the season — played, missed to injury, and what's ahead.

2026: played 16 · missed 4 to injury

R0
R1
R2
R3
R4V
R5
R13
R14
R15
R16
R24
R25
playedmissed (injury)injured in gameat riskprojected returnV/S/W affiliate returnbye / did not playupcoming

Injury History

2 injuries recorded
Injury history
DateInjurySeverityStatus
22 Aug 2026R241× · 656.6 km
Knee Injury (General)3 updates
KNXX
Minor (3)
Injured
20 Feb 2026
Foot Injury (General)2 updates
FTXX
Minor (3)
Returned