Essendon is left counting the cost of its Dreamtime victory over Richmond on Friday night as more key position players were struck down on a grim injury night to add to the Bombers’ horror toll.
Zach Reid (hamstring tightness) and Kyle Langford (quad) both suffered setbacks on the night, while Sam Durham appeared to tweak his hamstring but came back on the ground and played out the game.
Richmond was dealt its own big blow to No. 1 pick Sam Lalor (hamstring) in addition to Thomson Dow (knee) getting subbed out at half-time.
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But the Bombers’ fresh woes were the bigger story after the likes of Sam Draper (Achilles), Jordan Ridley (hamstring), Nick Bryan, Lewis Hayes (both ACL), Harrison Jones (ankle) and Harrison Jones (concussion) have already suffered long-term injuries.
Though Essendon is only listing it as hamstring tightness, Reid’s setback is particularly brutal after the former Pick 10 was finally flourishing this season after the early parts of the 23-year old’s career were ruined by injury.
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“Brad Scott will never had seen the likes of this. So many key position injuries, two fresh injuries to Reid and Langford,” Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph said on Fox Footy.
“Langford will need scans on that injured quad, he will surely miss against Brisbane next week. If that’s a low-level quad, it’s four to six weeks.
“(Reid is) Essendon’s most precious recourse apart from Zach Merrett. He has a history of hamstrings, he’s had hamstring surgery. Even if it’s a low-level hamstring, you could see him missing four or six weeks, that is catastrophic if it is the damage Essendon will fear.
“That’s nine injuries to key position talls of the 10 players on their list … Nik Cox is being assessed by the AFL concussion panel. There is a chance he will not come back from that, we absolutely cross our fingers for him.
“But disastrous for Essendon, they’ll take a couple of players at next Wednesday’s mid-season draft. But disastrous injury toll from tonight, it just adds up to a disastrous year all around with injuries.”
Bombers coach Brad Scott said pulling Reid from the game was a precautionary move, but admitted it was concerning given the defender’s injury history.
“We’re concerned, but it was a precautionary removal from the ground. He felt his hamstring, but it’s not like it was an acute strain. We’re not even sure it’s a hamstring strain at the moment,” Scott told Fox Footy post-match.
“With Zach, if he feels his hamstring in any way, we just took him off. He’s obviously worked really hard to get here after a lot of injuries, but it’s a no risk policy with him.
“Fingers crossed he’s OK.”
Meanwhile Scott said Langford’s quad issue was “obviously a concern” after the forward missed time earlier this season with a hamstring injury on his same right quad.
The Bombers said the “silver lining” to the injuries was the team getting to expose more players including Angus Clarke shining on debut with three goals — all in the first half.
“Anyone over 192cm is getting injured at the moment, we’ve just got to hang in and keep providing opportunities for other players,” the Bombers coach said.
“It’s a challenge but that’s why players like Angus Clarke are playing. It’s frustrating but there’s a silver lining.”
Scott admitted the “strategy probably just challenged tonight” for the next week’s mid-season draft, with Essendon expected to use all four of its picks to replenish its list for the second half of the season.
“Even though the injuries tonight aren’t long-term. We need to fill some gaps, I think we’ll have a really long meeting on Monday and finalise our strategy,” the Essendon coach added.
“The recruiting team have been doing a power of work. But 10 years ago this didn’t exist, so at least we have an opportunity to try find some players.
“We all know the success stories through the mid-season draft, we’ll try and find the best out there.”
Meanwhile Ralph expects Lalor to miss time after Richmond’s footy boss Tim Livingstone emphasised the club would take a long-term approach with injured youngsters.
“(Livingstone) said the entire philosophy with these young kids is if they have injuries we back them right off,” Ralph added.
“They’re doing it to Josh Smillie right now with a little mini pre-season off his own hamstring concern.
“(Lalor) is a Rising Star contender, but we might not see him for four or six weeks, it’s just the way they’re going with these young kids.”
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