The assistant coach is set to be sidelined for six weeks after suffering the injury at the 15-minute mark of the first quarter during Yarrawonga’s thrilling win against Lavington on Saturday.

However, Whiley had already planned to be unavailable at this point of the season, with around six weeks of overseas travel booked in.

Pigeons’ coach Damian Sexton said Whiley underwent minor surgery on Monday, making it a six-week injury.

“We’re half fortunate, obviously you don’t want an injury, but we’re lucky it has tied in with his trip away,” Sexton said.

“He was originally missing four games over five weeks, but he might miss five games now.

“We always knew he was going away, he’s probably just going to miss a week longer than we thought.

“That can change either way, but the beauty is it will give our kids more opportunities.”

Sexton is confident Whiley won’t require any further surgery on the hand once he returns home.

“He’ll obviously get it checked out, but it’s all on the move going forward,” he said.

In positive news for Yarrawonga, Matt Gorman is set to return from an ACL injury suffered midway through last season during the time Whiley is away.

“While it’s a negative for Mark, the positive is we’ve got arguably one of the best midfielders in the competition coming back in the next three weeks,” Sexton said.

“He’s an absolute ripper.

“It will be great if we could ever line them all up together.”

Whiley was shaping as one of the favourties for the Morris Medal after a strong start to the season, and, with Albury’s Brayden O’Hara also injured, it leaves the race wide open.

The Pigeons head to Birallee Park to take on the in-form Wodonga Raiders on Saturday.

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