Eternally unlucky GWS Giants ruck Braydon Preuss has gone down again, this time in the most frustrating of circumstances.
Preuss hasn’t played a game at AFL level since Round 21, 2022, due to a combination of injuries and form, with the Giants handing their No.1 ruck role to Kieren Briggs since half way through last year.
And he’ll have to wait even longer to press his case for a recall now, after pulling his hamstring while running onto the ground for the warm-up in the Giants’ VFL clash with North Melbourne on Friday.
Stream analysis, local footy and the biggest moments free on 7plus
Triple M’s Justin Edwards was on the scene at Blacktown International Sportspark when it happened.
“Quite unbelievable here at Blacktown, Braydon Preuss appears to have pulled his hamstring running on to the field,” he said.
Preuss has managed just 28 games across 10 seasons at three clubs — North Melbourne, Melbourne and GWS.
He looked most promising at the Kangaroos, where he burst onto the scene in 2017 after a blinding pre-season campaign.
The 206cm man mountain played the first four rounds of the 2017 season, averaging 27 hitouts per game playing in tandem with Todd Goldstein.
He racked up 46 hitouts, 13 disposals and five tackles in the Round 2 game that Goldstein missed due to injury, but was squeezed out when the Roos decided there wasn’t enough room for both in the side.
Preuss looked for more opportunity elsewhere after failing play a game at senior level in 2018, but made the curious decision to shift from North Melbourne, where he was stuck under Goldstein, to Melbourne, where he would be stuck under Max Gawn.
The Demons trialed the two-pronged ruck attack for seven of Preuss’s 10 games at his second club, but ultimately, like the Kangaroos before them, couldn’t find space for two bulls in the paddock.
Preuss looked set to have found a suitable home at the Giants in 2021, but didn’t play a game during his first season in orange after undergoing shoulder surgery on the eve of the season.
He played 10 games in 2022 but has since been leap-frogged by Briggs, whose All-Australian-calibre form has demanded sole ruck selection.