The wellbeing of stabbing victim Jack Steven is the overwhelming priority for Geelong, with general manager of football Simon Lloyd saying it’s too soon to speculate when the recruit will return to AFL action.
Steven, 30, was stabbed in the chest but unable to inform police of details of the incident which occurred on Saturday night.
He was recovering in the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne on Monday, with no further surgery required.
“Obviously it’s being investigated by the police at the moment so we’ve got to be very careful not to speculate and make assumptions,” Lloyd told reporters.
“We’ll allow the police to do all their investigations.
“Really at the moment the focus is on health and support for Jack.”
Geelong’s medical team has been in contact with the trauma doctors at the Alfred Hospital.
“Where he received the injury was under the right thoracic, so in his chest,” Lloyd said on Monday.
“Jack is very lucky.
” … He’s recovering he doesn’t require any further operation, he doesn’t need any exploratory surgery, so that’s a real positive in what is not great circumstances.”
The Cats players returned to training on Monday ahead of the scheduled season re-start on June 11.
They have been kept informed about the situation concerning Steven, who joined the club in the off-season after a decorated career at St Kilda where he won four best-and-fairest awards.
With hospital patients limited to one visitor per day due to COVID-19 regulations, no Geelong official has yet been able to see Steven.
“Jack comes from a very tight-knit family and he has his mum and dad around him at the moment,” Lloyd said.
“He has his partner and his siblings as well so he has a lot of support.
“Since Jack has arrived at the Geelong football club he hasn’t missed a beat.
“He’s training really well, been in great spirits and is really popular.
“Really now we need to give him the space he needs during this point of time.
“Hopefully he does have a quick recovery and then we will assess where we go from there.
“… we’re not even thinking about round two for Jack at the moment.
“The focus is on just getting out of hospital.”
Steven came close to AFL retirement last year as he dealt with mental health issues, playing just seven games in 2019.