Andrew Welsh will make a remarkable return to footy in the VFL this Sunday when Bendigo clash with Sandringham.
 
The midfielder seriously injured his ankle in an intra-club match three months ago and was, at one point, expected to miss a year of football. 
 
Bendigo Bombers coach, Adrian Hickmott, says that Welsh will be a role model to the younger players.

“Welshy won’t know many of the Bendigo guys when he plays this week. It’s a big thing for him to come in and get to know the guys and then unite with the guys,” Hickmott said.

“He is such a great communicator, and a real team player. He’ll get down there and organise the group. The young blokes listen to Welsh; there is no mucking around or joking when he speaks.

“We’ll be looking at playing him forward - for a start - to get used to the footy again. If he looks good, we might move him up the ground, but he’ll most likely play deep forward out of the goal square.”

Despite missing four months of footy since the injury, the 26-year-old will be a powerful tool to help the squad bond in what looms as another tough challenge.
 
“Sandringham have a good side, they’re sitting at about seventh on the ladder. They had Jason Gram playing last week, as well as Ben McEvoy, Brett Eddy and Nick Sautner at full forward – all very good players,"" Hickmott said.
 
""Our job against them will be to look after the ball, take really good care with our skills and just relax, hit our targets. I want the guys to push forward, get the ball down to the Scotty Lucas and Stuart Crameri who will be down forward.

“Jason Laycock was great last week; he helped out Christian Bock, so did Jack Redpath. Laycock has body size and experience behind him, he played a productive game and we’ll be looking for that again from him.

“Redpath has been going really well. He loves footy and he loves learning. Any player that wants to learn and that doesn’t mind the hard work, is easy to coach. These guys always seem to always shine through, because they want to listen.

“We lost Rhys Magin last week, with a shoulder injury. He had surgery last week and is expected to take up to six weeks to recover. Michael Hurley will also miss two to three weeks with a fractured wrist, and Simon Davies is out sick.

“We just want to be competitive. Not just five, or six or eight players playing competitive, we need the whole 22 players. We’ve got several players who are chasing selection in the Essendon team, but they can’t be competitive on their own, they need to unify so that they’ve got more chance of winning the game.”

INS: Welsh, Josh Bowe, Charles Slattery, Blair Holmes, Simon Weekly and  James Bristow.
 
OUTS: McVeigh, Hurley, Magin, Davies (all injured) and Stroobants (omitted).

The game starts at 2pm, Sunday 31 May at Trevor Barker Beach Oval.