JACK Silvagni looms as a likely inclusion for the injured Mitch McGovern, who will spend an extended period of time on the sidelines.

McGovern sustained a high-grade strain of his hamstring in Sunday’s win over Essendon as he made a desperate chase in the closing moments of the game.

Director of High Performance Andrew Russell confirmed that McGovern would spend up to 8-10 weeks on the sidelines.

In positive news, he said that Silvagni was likely to be back available for selection in his comeback from shoulder surgery.

“Jack was super close to playing but he didn’t quite get there,” Russell said.

“He’ll train fully this week and put his hand up: he’s a test later in the week. He’s a good, strong chance to be out there.”

Silvagni was likely to be joined by the returning Zac Williams, who missed the weekend’s win due to soreness.

Russell said that Williams was likely to be available this week, while Marc Murphy would also be tested later in the week.

“Zac had a couple of small issues last week: he trained today, he’ll train on Thursday and we expect him to be available this week,” he said.

“‘Murph’ got a hit to the neck last week on Thursday. At the time, we thought he was a chance to still play on Sunday but that didn’t settle down.

“We’ll give him every chance to play this week, we’ll test him on Thursday and see how he comes up and if he’s available.”

Paddy Dow could yet run out in Navy Blue on the weekend, after the young midfielder was subbed out in the second quarter of Sunday’s win.

Russell said that after an accidental elbow to the eye, Dow would be assessed throughout the week.

“He had swelling around the eye, which as we saw meant he wasn’t able to continue to play,” he said.

“That swelling has settled down. We’ll continue to monitor and assess him and he’ll be a test later in the week.” 

The full injury list is available here.