He was granted leave by the Bombers on February 5 but has recently returned to training.
However,as the Bombers prepare for Saturday night’s community series clash against St Kilda,head of football Josh Mahoney said McDonald-Tipungwuti still had work to do and was set to be overlooked for senior selection for the opening rounds of the home-and-away season.
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“He’s back training. He’s in full training at the moment,working on his fitness. He’s probably a few weeks away from being able to play a game and then he’ll build his fitness through the VFL,” Mahoney said on South Australian radio.
“All things going well,we’ll have him for AFL selection as quick as possible. He’s such an important and dynamic player for us.”
The retirement of Cale Hooker and the absence of Stringer and McDonald-Tipungwuti against the Saints will give the Bombers the chance to experiment with a rejigged forward line. Stringer,who has had groin issues,said this week he expects to be fit for round one against Geelong.
“I can’t tell you who that will be right now,which is half-exciting because we know someone will step up as we saw last year,” Mahoney said of the forward line.