Phil Smith gives Sunderland fans an injury update as part of his regular Q&A
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00:00Injury update on some of the players still sideline, Dennis Serkin, Dan Ballard, Jensen Sealt, Niall Huggins, Romain Mundell.
00:07So we asked about these injuries yesterday after the press conference.
00:15So the latest is that Dennis Serkin, touch and go I think for Saturday, but should definitely be back for the QPR game, if not.
00:22So he should be able to get some minutes before the end of the season.
00:25Dan Ballard, something that also hopeful he'll be back for the QPR game.
00:29So that hopefully means that he'll be able to get some minutes under his belt before the end of the season, which would mean he's fit for the playoffs.
00:35Mundell we won't see in the regular season, but should be back to play some part in the playoffs semifinals.
00:42Jensen Sealt, not quite sure really in terms of, LeBris has been confident that he could be around the squad for the playoffs.
00:49But I think he's had a little bit of a reaction, I think, with that knee after the commentary game.
00:54I don't think there's a major concern and LeBris has said he'll be available for the playoffs.
00:58But I think we might have to be fairly realistic about how likely he is to get minutes.
01:03Now, Huggins is exactly the same.
01:04He's been back in non-contact training, which is obviously a real positive.
01:09He's really stepping up his recovery.
01:11There's a chance he could be back in full training and sort of around the group by the time the playoffs come around.
01:16But how many minutes he'll be able to play with his match fitness is obviously a completely different question.
01:21So, hopefully, Serkan and Ballard will be able to play a fairly big part in the playoffs.
01:26Mundell, at the moment, I think it's too early to tell if he'll be ready to start a playoff semifinal, certainly a first leg.
01:31But he should be back around the group, similar with Sealt.
01:35And Agi Alise, we're just waiting to see whether he is going to be back in time.
01:38LeBris obviously mentioned a while ago that he was increasingly hopeful that he might be able to play some part in the playoffs, even if it's off the bench.
01:43We're just waiting to see how those last stages of recovery go, really.
01:46So, it's a little bit of a mixed bag, really.
01:49I think someone will have a lot of players back by the time the playoffs come around.
01:53The question is what level of match sharpness and what level of match fitness they have and how realistic it is they'll be able to go straight into the team.
02:00So, that's something that we'll have to kind of wait and see and keep an eye on over the coming days.