Carlton star Zac Williams to miss 2023 AFL season with ruptured ACL

Carlton’s Zac Williams will miss the entire 2023 AFL season after rupturing his ACL during pre-season, the club confirmed Saturday.

Williams, who crossed to the Blues from GWS ahead of the 2021 season, suffered the injury during a training session on Friday. He is expected to undergo surgery next week.

“The club can confirm defender Zac Williams will unfortunately miss the 2023 season after rupturing his ACL,” Carlton’s head of football Brad Lloyd said in a statement. “He will undergo surgery to repair his ACL and from there, we will put a rehabilitation program in place for him over the next 12 months.

“These incidents are so unfortunate and we are all feeling for Zac, he could not have done any more this pre-season to get himself ready for the year.

“He has had more than his fair share of bad luck with injury Zac but in that time he has built up a lot of resilience, which he will no doubt tap into, as we all support him on his road to recovery from here.”

It continues a horror run of luck for the 28-year-old, who managed just nine games last year after battling a calf injury.

The Blues also confirmed young forward Sam Philp had undergone surgery to repair a stress fracture in his foot.

“We are all really disappointed for Sam, given how hard he has worked to get his body right over the last 18 months,” Lloyd said. “He has faced some significant challenges during that time, and while this latest one is frustrating, we’ll continue to make sure as a club we are with Sam every step of the way. Given the nature of his injury, we will get a more definitive picture on Sam’s recovery timeline at a later date.”

Williams and Philp join Sam Walsh on the sidelines, with the gun midfielder still recovering from back surgery.