The injury list has continued to mount at Richmond following a shock loss to Carlton to begin its season, with both Dion Prestia and Jack Riewoldt leaving the match under injury clouds.
Despite holding a 20-point lead just minutes into the final quarter, Richmond was overrun by a rampant Carlton side which slammed on seven unanswered goals to finish the match.
Following his side’s loss, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick revealed that Riewoldt, who was held to just six disposals and a goal, had suffered a suspected fractured thumb in the match.
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“That’s why he went off early and probably struggled to hold the ball a little bit tonight,” he said.
“We didn’t fare too well. We’ll get more details out when we find out, possibly tomorrow.”
Hardwick was forced to substitute out Prestia in the second quarter after yet another hamstring injury for the 29-year-old, with the blow described as an “unmitigated disaster” by AFL columnist Jon Ralph, given Prestia’s injury history.
After playing a career-high 25 games in Richmond’s 2019 premiership-winning side, Prestia has only managed a combined 19 games in the three seasons since.
“Lets not sugar-coat this, Richmond’s latest hamstring injury with Dion Prestia is an unmitigated disaster … they just can’t trust his body anymore,” Ralph said on Fox Footy’s coverage of Richmond’s season opener.
“They’d believed they’d bullet-proofed him, he had a flawless pre-season. Only nine games last year off a calf injury and multiple hamstring injuries. They felt they’d actually cracked the code.”
Hardwick admitted that the toll of Prestia’s injury will be felt both on and off the field.
“It’s just disappointing, he’s had as good a pre-season as he’s had,” he said after the loss.
“He’s so important to how we play. I feel like he’s barely played for two and a half years. And 10 touches in the first quarter and lo and behold we’re up and going, then he goes out. He’s a significant loss, big loss, I just really feel for the kid.
“He’s so important to the way we play but just the culture of our place as well. He was really disappointed and I’m disappointed for him, we want him on the field and we want him up and about. It’s a challenging stage for him.”
Prestia had looked excellent prior to his injury, picking up 10 disposals in the opening term. Once he went off the ground, Hardwick resorted to playing an under-cooked Jack Graham in the midfield, a move which the three-time premiership-winning coach admits backfired.
“That’s the cut and thrust of AFL footy, you make a call and push the envelope a little bit,” he admitted.
“Jack’s had six years with us, his pre-season durability has been pretty good over the time and he’s played off limited preparation once before and played really well against Carlton.
“Obviously losing Dion really hurt. It was a calculated risk, did it pay off? Well probably not tonight, but we’re paid to make those decisions and sometimes they don’t.”
Prestia, and potentially Riewoldt, could both join premiership stars Nick Vlastuin (hamstring), Kamdyn McIntosh (calf) and Kane Lambert (hip) on the sidelines.
The undermanned Tigers will host the GWS Giants at the MCG in Round 2 as they attempt to avoid the dreaded 0-2 hole to start the season.