Richmond’s injury list has grown again with a suspected fourth ACL tear of the season.
Just a week after experienced ruckman Sam Naismith went down, Tylar Young was hurt in the first quarter of a VFL curtain-raiser at the MCG ahead of Saturday night’s Dreamtime AFL game against Essendon.
The Tigers are fearing the 25-year-old defender ruptured his ACL, reports 7NEWS Melbourne’s Mitch Cleary.
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Young will undergo scans on Sunday.
It is a cruel blow after playing 28 of a possible 33 games since he was drafted as a mature-age rookie, only to find himself dropped back to the VFL this week in the midst of Richmond’s injury crisis.
The silver lining is that Young is already under contract until the end of 2025 after inking a two-year extension this time last year.
“It’s a really tough one. He’s a terrific kid, works so hard on his game,” Tigers coach Adem Yze said later on Saturday night.
“I just wanted him to go down (to the VFL) and get some confidence and go for his marks. To see him do that (injury) early in the game, we’ll wrap our arms around him. It’s a sad one but he’ll be back.”
Young will be on a similar recovery timeline to Naismith, who has now suffered the dreaded injury four times in his career.
Richmond’s first two ACLs of the season came when Josh Gibcus went down in their second AFL game while Judson Clarke was hurt in a VFL match one month later.
Young was concussed in the AFL loss to Carlton, the same night Gibcus was injured, but only missed the one game as he returned for the win over Sydney in Round 3.
Young played 19 games last year in his first season at the top level, having graduated from Richmond’s VFL side, and had played nine AFL games this year — including the past four.
He was dropped this week for Dreamtime at the ‘G alongside Matt Coulthard while Rhyan Mansell is out injured.
Liam Baker is back, with Seth Campbell and Samson Ryan also called in, as the Tigers seek to bounce back from losing by a combined 200 points in the last two weeks.
First-year coach Adem Yze called on his players to respond to the Dreamtime occasion, despite winning only once this season.
“The Tiger army, they follow through thick and thin and that’s what we expect – but we expect to play better footy and put on a better performance,” he said.
“All we can do is respond, and no better opportunity than in front of a big crowd.”
Regardless of their injuries, Yze said the Tigers must not go away from how they expect to play.
“It can take its toll, but we expect our players to perform — obviously effort and intensity, and play the right way,” he said.
“There was some stuff last week that just wasn’t us and hopefully we can rectify that this weekend.”
– with AAP