Giants lose defender for 2017 AFL season

Apr 13, 2017 - 10:56 AM Greater Wester Sydney's rash of injuries has continued with defender Matt Buntine lost for the AFL season after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament.

The Giants revealed on Thursday evening that Buntine had undergone scans after a training mishap on Wednesday.

They showed a pre-existing partially torn ACL on top of the new injury that will require a season-ending knee reconstruction.

"After feeling some discomfort at training on Wednesday, Matt underwent scans to initially investigate what was thought to be a meniscus injury," GWS football boss Wayne Campbell said.

"But these scans revealed a partially torn ACL that appears to be a pre-existing injury.

"This is obviously quite a rare set of circumstances, given there has been no cause to investigate any injury in relation to Matt's knee before this and it appears he's been playing with it for a number of years.

"This is obviously devastating news for Matt and we will now map out the best rehabilitation course for him to return to his best.

"Matt is a person of great integrity and character and has the full support of the entire club during this challenging time."

The 23-year-old's loss is a big blow to the Giants, who have also lost Ryan Griffen (ankle), Steve Johnson (knee), Stephen Coniglio (ankle), Tendai Mzungu (hamstring), Will Setterfield (ankle) and Brett Deledio (calf) to injury in recent weeks.

Buntine was the fifth overall selection at the 2011 draft but has been restricted to just 41 games in six seasons.

Source: AAP