Tom Lynch surgery: Richmond confident it can cover injured, missing stars
Tom Lynch is the newest addition to Richmond’s list of missing stars after surgery on a broken hand. But the Tigers are confident their premiership hopes won’t be derailed. See who’s out and who’s coming in.
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Richmond expects key forward Tom Lynch to miss this weekend’s clash against Sydney with a broken hand.
But the Tigers are confident their premiership hopes will be undiminished by football’s Groundhog Day.
Lynch took off from Essendon Aiport in a private plane alongside chief executive Brendon Gale at 6pm to beat the border closure deadline after surgery on a broken metacarpal bone suffered in the win over Melbourne.
Had he been unable to find a flight before state borders closed he might have had to spend time in separate accommodation or had Richmond’s 14-day quarantine period reset.
Richmond believes at worst he will miss only the game, and he might even attempt to play through pain if his hand responds to treatment.
But, as the Herald Sun revealed on Monday, dual premiership stars Dion Prestia and Toby Nankervis will need surgery on syndesmosis injuries.
It is understood Prestia needs only to have a tendon reattached and has no bone damage, so could be ready to return in 4-6 weeks.
Bachar Houli and Shane Edwards will remain at home due to family considerations, with Houli caring for a newborn son and Edwards’ partner due in August but expected to give birth early.
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That quartet will not travel into the Gold Coast hub so Richmond will leave behind only four or five young Tigers to be coached in Melbourne by development coaches Sam Lonergan and Ryan Ferguson.
Houli could have flown up in several weeks after his wife Rouba gave birth to son Mohamed on Friday, but he would have needed to quarantine separately and might have only played the final game of five in 32 days.
Captain Trent Cotchin, likely sidelined for at least a fortnight with a hamstring strain, has travelled north as well.
Richmond football boss Tim Livingstone said the club hadn’t officially ruled Lynch out of Sunday’s clash against the Swans.
“The injuries from yesterday’s game gave us some challenges, but we’re working our way through them, and we’re really excited for us as a group to get away together,” he said.
“We’ve made arrangements for Tom to travel to the Gold Coast (Monday) evening.
“We will see how he recovers throughout the week and make a call on his availability for this weekend’s game.”
Last year the Tigers were ravaged by injury early in the season but rebounded to win the premiership.
While they will need to bank wins before their stars return they legitimately want to blood some youngsters, as they did so successfully last year.
Noah Balta has huge promise as a marking defender, while Sydney Stack, Marlion Pickett, Shai Bolton, Thomson Dow, Callum Coleman-Jones and Riley Collier-Dawkins are all in the mix for selection.
In Round 7 the Tigers take on North Melbourne at Metricon Stadium, by that stage having moved from KDV Southport into the Royal Pines with Essendon.
RICHMOND REPLACEMENTS
Toby Nankervis: Ivan Soldo will quickly slot in as his replacement, having been the club’s first ruck in last year’s premiership.
Tom Lynch: The Tigers are desperate to give chances to Callum Coleman-Jones after an impressive pre-season as a ruck-forward.
Trent Cotchin: Jack Ross is a likely replacement as an inside midfielder after an impressive start to his career in 2019.
David Astbury: He is still out for another month with a knee issue but despite some nervous moments on Sunday Noah Balta, the club’s Alex Rance prototype, had 20 possessions and 10 intercepts against Melbourne.
Dion Prestia and Shane Edwards: The Tigers would like to see what young draft picks Riley Collier-Dawkins and Thomson Dow have got, although best-and-fairest winner Prestia is close to irreplaceable given his hard run and relentless ball winning.
Bachar Houli: Sydney Stack is the obvious choice to win back his spot after an extremely quiet start to his second season. Shai Bolton will also push for a recall.
Wounded Tigers ravaged by injury in first win since March
Damien Hardwick spent the week in his overalls fiddling around with his jumper leads.
Not for the first time, the Tigers’ engine had been slow to start this year.
But just as the club prepares to hub it up in Queensland, Richmond regained that signature spark around the contest and defensive muscle which had been strangely missing in its back-to-back losses.
You saw it as Kane Lambert laid a desperate smother on Joel Smith in the third term and then snapped his second goal to keep the foot on Melbourne’s throat in the 27-point win at the MCG.
He was best on ground, Lambert in his 100th game, kicking three goals.
But the victory could come at a significant cost as ruckman Toby Nankervis injured his ankle and went off in the third term, Prestia went down late with a serious-looking ankle problem, Trent Cotchin nicked his hamstring and Tom Lynch hurt his right hand but battled on.
It meant the Tigers were down to one man on the bench late as the Dees produced their best footy late.
For all of the talk about which premiership Tigers will or won’t head to the hub, what mattered most was that Richmond rediscovered its trademark energy, defensive intensity and surge mentality in the triumph.
And as Hardwick touched on during the week, some of the top-line Tigers who had been down on form finally worked their way into the game.
Superstar Dustin Martin was dangerous forward on Michael Hibberd, Jack Riewoldt was busy early on the lead, and Prestia and Cotchin sprang back to life before their injuries. Jake Aarts showed some tenacity in his first game.
The smother ✅
— AFL (@AFL) July 5, 2020
The goal ✅
The brilliance ✅
Kane Lambert, take a bow ðŸ‘#AFLDeesTigers pic.twitter.com/N6xuoNt9A8
MID-SIZE MAGIC
Bayley Fritsch is Melbourne’s best forward.
The man from Coldstream has springs in his legs and his speed and marking power is making him a nightmare match up for rivals.
When he reeled in a beauty on Nick Vlastuin midway through the fourth term and kicked his second the Demons had cut the lead to 16 points and were threatening to make a serious challenge.
But while Kysaiah Pickett took a fly at mark of the year, Mitch Hannan had some moments and Tom McDonald also kicked an important goal early in the fourth term, connection in the forward half continues to be a headache for coach Simon Goodwin.
It leaves the Demons in a hole already in the bottom four with only one win from four games after sinking to second-last last season.
The question is, how restless will the Demons’ faithful get?
HOT EARLY
When Christian Petracca lit up the first term with 14 possessions, you thought it could be a landmark day for the Demons.
Paired up against Martin early, Petracca sizzled with his powerful bursts helping crack open the contest with the most prolific first term of the season.
But his impact faded and his close mate Clayton Oliver rued a poor kick in the middle of the ground in the second term which went straight to opponent Liam Baker.
MELBOURNE 3.1 3.2 5.2 8.4 (52)
RICHMOND 3.2 7.3 9.7 12.7 (79)
GOALS
Melbourne: Hannan 3, Melksham 2, Fritsch 2, McDonald
Richmond: Lynch 3, Lambert 3, Higgins, Rioli, Nankervis, Riewoldt, Castagna, Martin
BEST
Richmond: Lambert, Higgins, Martin, Houli, Balta, Caddy
Melbourne: Gawn, May, Petracca, Fritsch, Hibberd
INJURIES
Melbourne: Nil
Richmond: Nankervis (ankle), Prestia (ankle), Cotchin (hamstring)
VOTES
3 Lambert
2 Higgins
1 Gawn
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Originally published as Tom Lynch surgery: Richmond confident it can cover injured, missing stars