Collingwood has confirmed it will be without the services of Ben Sinclair in the weeks to come.

The small defender tore his hamstring late in the first quarter during Saturday’s loss to Adelaide at Etihad Stadium.

Director of Football Neil Balme addressed the setback in Collingwood Media’s Blackmores Injury Update.

“Sadly, Benny, who’s been going very well, hurt his hamstring. We were a little bit concerned about it and he couldn’t re-join the game,” Balme said.

“We’re not quite sure how bad it is but it’s certainly not good news.”

VIDEO: Get the latest from Neil Balme in CollingwoodTV's Blackmores Injury Update.

The injury is a blow for Sinclair who began the year well with 16 disposals against Brisbane in round one.

Hamstring injuries limited his 2014 campaign to just four games, but three consecutive games to round out the year and a strong pre-season saw the 23-year-old establish himself as a clear round one starter.

While the extent of the injury is yet to be determined, Balme classed the Sinclair’s injury status as “medium term”.

Better news emanated from Victoria Park, where Ben Reid and Jarrod Witts got through their returns from injury unscathed in the club’s 26-point win over North Ballarat in the final VFL practice match of the pre-season.


Both will seek to press their claims for AFL selection in the coming weeks and may soon be joined in the state league by another pair of returning Pies.

To learn more about the status of Brent Macaffer, Clinton Young and others, view Collingwood’s complete injury list at this link now.

Matthew Scharenberg (knee) and Clinton Young (hamstring) haven’t pulled on a Collingwood jumper yet in 2015, though Balme believes both are fully recovered and will be on the radar for a return in the near future.

“Matthew Scharenberg is continuing his full training and will play reasonably soon. It’s just a matter of when we pull the trigger on that… probably a couple of weeks,” Balme said.

“Clinton Young is going very well. He probably won’t play this weekend, but the weekend after he should, having overcome that hamstring problem.”

Other players to note on this week’s edition of the Blackmores Injury Update are Steele Sidebottom, Levi Greenwood and Brent Macaffer, who Balme believes fall in the medium-to-long-term injury bracket.