By Marc McGowan and Greg Baum
A ruck crisis threatens to halt Collingwood’s unbeaten start to the year as No.1 big man Darcy Cameron looks set to potentially spend months on the sidelines.
Cameron exited late in the third quarter of the Magpies’ 14-point win over Richmond, with coach Craig McRae revealing post-match they suspected he sustained a high-grade medial collateral ligament injury.
Darcy Cameron of the Magpies in action.Credit: Getty
The 27-year-old, who was off to a strong start this season, had ice and a compression bandage on his left knee in Collingwood’s rooms and left on crutches.
Cameron is likely to be sidelined for a minimum of six weeks if the Pies’ fears become a reality as they begin life without dual All-Australian Brodie Grundy, who was traded to Melbourne in the off-season in a salary cap move.
Collingwood already lost Mason Cox for an indefinite period after discovering he suffered a hematoma – rather than merely bruised ribs – in a collision last week against Port Adelaide.
Third-string ruckman Aiden Begg (back) remains at least a month away from playing, while swingman Nathan Kreuger (shoulder reconstruction) could be out for another eight weeks.
Toby Nankervis of the Tigers and Darcy Cameron of the Magpies contest the ball.Credit: Getty
“We’ve had a bad week in the ruck stakes. We’ve lost Mason for a period of time, and now it looks like Darcy will be out for a significant period,” McRae told reporters.
“We’ll find out more [in the coming days], but the initial diagnosis is a high-grade MCL ... we’ll wait and see.”
Dan McStay and Ash Johnson carried the ruck duties against the Tigers after Cameron went off, but McRae said he was unsure yet how they would handle the situation.
Next up for the Magpies is 204-centimetre beanpole Oscar McInerney, with captain Darcy Moore, reborn defender Billy Frampton and 19-year-old pre-season recruit Oscar Steene, the only fit players taller than 200 centimetres.
Frampton kept Tom Lynch to one goal in his second game for the club on Friday night and has played in the ruck previously, with McRae saying he was one option “against certain opposition”.
But the coach was not ready to say whether Collingwood were willing to unleash teenage ruckman Steene, who officially joined the club at the start of February.
“I’m rapt with how he’s going [but] I’ve always believed, with my development hat on, that we set people up to succeed,” McRae said.
“We’ll have to weigh up whether that’s the case with him – if it’s too early. It’s not impossible, but I want to set players up to succeed, and it might be a bit early for him. We’ll wait and see.”
Meanwhile, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick expects key players Dustin Martin, Jayden Short and Jacob Hopper all to return for the Tigers’ encounter with the Western Bulldogs next Saturday.
All three were absent, as well as the suspended Nathan Broad and the injured Robbie Tarrant, as the Tigers succumbed to Collingwood’s high-pressure game – which they modelled on Richmond – on Friday night.
But Hardwick refused to use their unavailability as an excuse. Instead, he focused on errant ball-handling.
“We had 28 giveaway turnovers in the first half,” Hardwick said.
“That’s through nothing but skill errors and decision-making. We had eight in the second half. We didn’t use the ball anywhere near well enough. You’re going to struggle to stay in games when you give the ball away 28 times.”
Hardwick was generous in his praise for the Magpies. “Early, we just ran into their pressure,” he said.
“We had some good looks inside 50, but we just weren’t clean. We knew their pressure was coming, we just didn’t handle it that well.”
Because of this, the Tigers again lost the contested possession count.
“We fumbled and bumbled around the contest, and they were just cleaner,” Hardwick said. “So the number can blow out a little bit.”
The season is only three rounds old and at 1-1-1, the Tigers are still well in the hunt.
“Are we playing well enough at the moment?” Hardwick asked. “We’re going OK, but we can certainly get a lot better in certain areas.”
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.