AFL 2024: What comes next for Richmond after Josh Gibcus’ ACL tear headlines horror injury night

Young Richmond defender Josh Gibcus will miss the rest of the season after his worst fears were confirmed on Friday. We dissect all the Tigers injury news and look at where to next.

Richmond will frantically search for defensive replacements for injured pair Josh Gibcus and Tylar Young against Port Adelaide as the league cleared the Tigers’ concussion management protocols on Friday.

The Tigers on Friday confirmed Gibcus would spend the season on the sidelines with an ACL tear, while Young is in concussion protocols after hitting his head on the MCG turf.

Richmond football boss Tim Livingstone said the Tigers were shattered for Gibcus.

“We are all incredibly disappointed for Josh. It is horrible luck after what he has already encountered on the injury front in his short career,” he said.

“He is still so young and has a lot of football ahead of him after this setback. We know, the character and professional he is, that he will attack his rehab first-class and return stronger.”

On Friday, the AFL said the Tigers had no case to answer despite Young spending the second quarter on the field after the collision in a marking contest with Harry McKay.

Josh Gibcus after hurting his knee on Thursday night. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

The league said its concussion spotter in the AFL’s ARC had sent a message to the Richmond bench, with its doctor Greg Hickey at that stage attending to Gibcus’ knee.

Richmond reviewed the footage of the incident and were confident Young had no symptoms or clinical features of concussion as part of the head injury assessment.

Out of an abundance of caution, the Tigers conducted a SCAT test at half time and then ruled him out, so the AFL had no issues with their conduct.

Richmond will take on Port Adelaide next week without its two young talls in Gibcus and Young and midfielder Dion Prestia, who again hurt his hamstring

Gibcus is the centrepiece of the club’s list refresh, as a No.9 draft pick in the 2021 national draft.

He is the only top 10 pick the club has taken in the national draft since 2012

Tigers defender Nick Vlastuin was just getting used to having Gibcus back in defence and was already thinking he was ready to take over the mantle as the Tigers’ best backman within the next few months.

Now the 20-year-old is facing a second successive season on the sidelines after suffering a sickening knee injury during Thursday night’s game.

Gibcus will miss the rest of the season after scans confirmed an ACL tear. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos

“He missed all of last year with hammies, so it is pretty cruel,” Vlastuin said.

“We were kind of excited to get him back this year … in his first year (2022) he played such a good year as a key defender as an 18-year-old.

“He was just building into it, but in another six weeks he could have been our best key defender. You have to feel for him.”

Vlastuin said the Tigers would rally around Gibcus, but also around veteran midfielder Dion Prestia who had suffered another hamstring injury, which will sideline him for several weeks.

“I feel so sorry for Dion,” he said. “He is doing everything right, and it just goes again and again. I think he had his left hammy in the pre-season and this one is in his right hammy.”

Richmond could bring back ex-Hawk Jacob Koschitzke and keep Noah Balta in defence after redeploying him after half time.

Swingman Ben Miller and mid-sized backs Tom Brown and James Trezise were in good form in a Richmond practice match on Thursday afternoon – so are all options.

But Gibcus gave Richmond the capacity to keep Balta forward and in the ruck, where he kicked three goals against Carlton.

Richmond is keen to contend again in coming seasons, while also having an eye to the future.

Tylar Young and Nick Vlastuin compete with star Blue Charlie Curnow at the MCG. Picture: Michael Klein

Chief executive Brendon Gale said over summer the club was confident of early contract talks with free agent Dustin Martin.

But Martin’s manager Ralph Carr told this masthead on Thursday that Martin would hold off any talks until year’s end and consider his future then as he did every season.

“We will get to the end of the year like normal and see how he’s feeling,” he said.

So the Martin contract saga that has frustrated fans will likely drag on until October as rival clubs including Gold Coast ponder offers.

Coach Adem Yze admitted it had been a risk to play Dion Prestia after only a five day break against Gold Coast.

“I’m not sure if it’s the same side (as his injury last month), all I know is that he had a tight hammy and they’ll go through the scans,” Yze said.

“I feel for him. It was always a risk, with a five-day break. And to be fair, you talk about pride and being proud of performance, on the back of a five-day break, a hot day on the Gold Coast, to be able to sustain that performance for the whole night is part of the reason we were super proud of them.

“But it’s also part of the reason it was a little bit risky, even with Dylan Grimes (pre-season calf injury) – we were rapt he got through the game, but there’s always this risk in playing some of our older players off a five-day break. But we’ll live and learn.”