AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
FRA
GER
ESP
ITA
NLD
PRT
SWE
GRC
IND
POL
BRA
ZAF
RUS
CHN
UAE
Brisbane will be without veterans Dayne Zorko and Daniel Rich for their huge clash with Carlton, while Port Adelaide midfielder Xavier Duursma has been sidelined for up to 10 weeks with a knee injury.
The Lions' big win over Fremantle came at a cost with Zorko straining his hamstring and Rich suffering a calf strain, with the pair sidelined for three weeks through injury.
The silver lining for Zorko is the strain is to his left hamstring and not his right - which he injured during the pre-season and ruled him out of round one.
The pair's absence is a blow for fourth-placed Brisbane, who travel to face sixth-placed Carlton on Friday night.
Duursma has torn his posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) and will be out for eight-to-10 weeks.
The 22-year-old hurt his knee in a heavy collision with Saints ruckman Rowan Marshall and was emotional when he had to be subbed out of the game during quarter-time.
He had played all seven games this season after only featuring 22 times in total across 2021 and 2022.
But Todd Marshall will return from concussion against Essendon.
Fremantle's Nat Fyfe could return from his troublesome foot injury against Hawthorn.
The Dockers confirmed Fyfe, who has played just one game, was a "test" to either play at AFL or WAFL level.
"Nat's foot pulled up really well from a step up on the weekend," Merriman said.
"He will be main training this week, with a plan for him to play football this weekend."
Talented young defender Heath Chapman is set for an extended stint on the sidelines after injuring his hamstring when he was on the verge of returning from a calf injury.
"Unfortunately for Chappy, at the back end of last week's training session he had an incident and it ended up being a moderate to high-grade hamstring injury," Merriman said.
