Luke Delahey is a familiar name to those involved with Ballarat football.

or signup to continue reading

Two premierships at Darley in 2015 and 2017 coming out of a stint with the Western Jets the year before his first piece of silverware - the pedigree was there for all to see.

It was a fair old signing when Skipton picked him up for the 2025 Central Highlands Football League campaign following four years at Diggers Rest, but his hopes of an early impression went up in smoke.

To be precise, those ambitions lasted about 10 minutes.

A grade two calf tear curtailed Delahey's start to life in the Emus' strip less than a quarter into their season opener against Clunes.

This isn't a regular case of checking up with the rebounding half-back flanker on the medical table every Tuesday night at training, though.

Now a Western Australia-based school teacher, one-time local Delahey remains across the Nullarbor during school terms - meaning he won't exactly be right around the corner in playing terms.

A former classmate of his turned Skipton coach Mitch Walsh was at last able to gather a timeframe around his marquee signing's return to the field.

"We had a few injuries in that first game, and he was one of them," Walsh said.

"He started really well for us, but right now, he's probably a month away from playing.

"He's doing some rigid recovery to make sure it's right in hopefully four weeks' time.

"It'll be another while for us, and we won't rush him back in with the knowledge of how calf injuries can be re-aggravated, so we might potentially hold him back an extra week or two once he's ready.

"He's a dashing half-back, so he'll give us a lot of that run when he's ready to go."

Off the field, the other supplementing issue is the lack of support Delahey is able to provide for the existing group as someone with major BFNL success under his belt.

You'd normally expect someone senior to remain around the club during an injury spell to mentor other players, but the man with a simultaneous playing deal for a side in the Perth Football League obviously lacks a hands-on capacity due to work commitments.

"He comes back spending school holidays in Victoria, so it was pretty disheartening for him when he was planning on being around the group," Walsh said.

"He's been involved, but not in a physical way. I'm glad we've got him doing (the travel), but I certainly wouldn't personally.

"It was all his idea - we just have to get him on the park.

"Dunnstown are going nicely, so we'd hope to have him for that game (in round nine).

"We've been fairly undermanned at the start of the year, so we just hope to get some troops back."

Sitting at 2-2 after having the round one bye, Skipton will host winless Ballan in Saturday's round six clash.