Otago Injury Update

Otago will be boosted by the return of two key players this Saturday but the injury curse continues to hit Hayden Parker.

The injury to Parker is just the latest blow to a side which has had more than its fair share of walking wounded.

All up, the side has fielded 31 players in its eight games so far and, of those, just under half of them have picked up injuries which have forced them to miss games.

Otago coach Cory Brown said they had gone through plenty of players but the injuries were mainly the result of collisions and out of the team's control.

''Not many of them injuries are muscular. A lot of them are just broken bones, fractures of arms, a lot of joints being damaged. We've just been unlucky, really,'' he said.

''It's not as though we are seeing these injuries through us tiring them out and not managing them properly.

Brown said centre Faddes has a chance to play this Saturday against Bay of Plenty at Forsyth Barr Stadium. Faddes broke bones in his hand at training, following the first game of the season against North Harbour and has not played since.

But the injured hand had not prevented him from running and his fitness is good. Should he be given the all-clear from the medical staff, he could be a chance to play on Saturday, Brown said.

Flanker Dillon Hunt suffered a head knock two weeks ago against Tasman but has been cleared to play this Saturday.

Lock Josh Dickson and halfback Josh Renton were both forced from the field last week against Wellington with injuries to their legs, but both have recovered well and are likely to feature on Saturday.

The prognosis though was not so good for Parker, who continues to have a bad run with injury.

He is just back from a knee injury, his second in as many years, which had ruined his season with the Highlanders.

He had not played for Otago since 2014 because of injury when he came off the bench against Northland last week.

The 26-year-old came on in the second half in the match against Wellington last Sunday but he was forced off after only a few minutes in the capital when he sprained his ankle.

Brown said Parker was in a moon boot and was unlikely to be involved in the game this week. Lock Blair Tweed was also unlikely to play this week as he was concussed in the match against Wellington.