The injury curse that has descended on Metricon Stadium in 2015 has claimed two more victims, with Harley Bennell (calf) and Matt Shaw (illness) now unavailable to take the field against Sydney on Saturday.

The midfield pair will be replaced in the senior line-up by defenders Greg Broughton and Clay Cameron.

Coach Rodney Eade revealed in his weekly press conference that Bennell was suffering from calf tightness and despite a positive MRI scan yesterday, would not be risked against the Swans.

“(He’s) just got a tight calf and it’s a bit neural, he’s still got the nerve pain. So the scan was clear but he’s still with a fair bit of discomfort,” Eade told reporters at Metricon Stadium on Friday morning.

“We could wait until tomorrow, but there’s no sense in playing and then going off in the first 20 minutes because then we’ll be short like we were last week.”

Despite being available to play and the current state of affairs, 2014 All Australian defender Nick Malceski will not be rushed back into senior action, with fitness staff declaring he needs to spend another week in the reserves after completing less than 50% of last week’s match against NT Thunder in Darwin.

“We just felt he (Malceski) needs another week in the seconds,” Eade said.

“I suppose he’s a player we could play now, but I don’t think we’re doing the right thing by him.

“If we play him as a sub and he gets a quarter, that’s not going to help his development to play the week after and if he plays a full game and gets injured, then it puts him back.

“We think he’s probably susceptible to that (a soft-tissue injury) if he plays seniors.”

Malceski has been named as emergency for Saturday’s game, along with rookie Josh Glenn and Seb Tape.