By Lewis McLeod

Youngster Ryan Porteous and Loanee Jason Naismith have been ruled out for long periods of time. Porteous picked up his knock after going into a tough slide tackle against Dundee United. The young centre half has had his career plagued by injury and this is just another set back he will look to overcome. Hibs Talk Podcast host Gavin Wilson had his say on Porteous’ on-off career.

“Ryan is a player who is always learning, and it has been a joy to see the improvements from last season. As upsetting it is as a fan, it’s more upsetting for him having to go through another 2nd half of a season at HTC recovering. Ryan is a resilient individual and I believe he’ll come back stronger and still become our record transfer fee received when he inevitably moves down south.”

Jason Naismith, who is on loan from Peterburgh United, has potentially saw his Hibernian career ended after picking up an injury against Dundee United. The club have the choice to sign him at the end of the season and he will stay at the Edinburgh side until he is fully fit, which is a positive for the side as they may be looking to sign him on at the end of the season.

“Hibs have a massive rebuild of an ageing defence to do this summer. If we have an agreement in place to make it permanent I would as that’s one less position to recruit. If not I think there’s better deals out there, such as Stephen O’Donnell whose contract is up in the summer. Naismith would be a good signing but I wouldn’t want to have to go through lengthy negotiations with Peterborough.”

With Porteous being a key figure and someone who commands the defence by making the tough tackles, the club may now look into the market to bolster their options at the back and may consider a loan option until the end of the season. The Scotsman has played 14 games this season and scored one goal but this has been his best run of form without injury.

Last season he only managed to play 16 matches due to injuries that kept reoccurring and now Porteous looks to be going down the path of getting knee surgery to put a stop to this issue.

“I think the first thing Hibs will do will stop any moves for Jackson going out, who has been linked with moves to England including Bolton. I hope Hibs go for another centre back as we can’t rely on McGregor to stay fit who has had injury issues of his own, missing 43 games in the last 2 and a half seasons.”

These injuries wont just hurt them but will play a role in where the team will finish on the table this year, Jack Ross came into a club that was severely under performing and many fans didn’t know what was going to happen to the club but since Ross’ appointment he has clearly set out aims and the club and players are working hard to meet these.

“It may force Ross to get what we need to see out the season rather than push Motherwell and Aberdeen. I don’t want to rule out Europe, but fear we may need to wait until another summer rebuild is complete to see the best from a Jack Ross Hibs side.”

Hibernian currently sit sixth in the league and have a replay against Dundee United in the Scottish cup later on in the month.