By Angus Delaney
The Bulldogs are “fearing the worst” after star forward Sam Darcy was subbed out with a knee injury after landing awkwardly in the Bulldogs’ dominant 71-point Easter Sunday win over St Kilda.
The Bulldogs said they were fearing the worst – a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament – which would almost certainly rule Darcy out for the rest of the 2025 season.
Sam Darcy on the ground in pain.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Darcy crumpled to the ground and clutched at his left knee, which he appeared to hyperextend after a marking contest in the first quarter.
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge wouldn’t speculate to the extent of Darcy’s injury but said the 21-year-old’s attitude post-game was admirable.
“I can’t really elaborate until the medicos have done their scans,” Beveridge said after the match.
“He probably knows he might have a serious knee injury, but he’s in the huddle, arms round his teammates, singing the song.
“[That] shows what sort of character he is.”
General manager of football operations Matt Egan said the club believed it might be a ruptured ACL injury, with a medical scan to deliver a definitive answer in the next 24 hours.
“The medical staff are pretty concerned. At this stage, they’re fearing the worst. It looks like a possible ACL. We’re just going to have to wait til tomorrow and get scans to confirm,” Egan said on Channel Seven.
Beveridge said that if Darcy’s injury resulted in a long-term absence, the Bulldogs would need to adjust their playing style, without their best forward.
Darcy on the field after he was subbed off.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Physiotherapist and triple-premiership AFLW defender Libby Birch told this masthead that all the initial signs were that Darcy had ruptured his ACL.
She said the hyperextension of the knee was a “mechanism for an ACL” and the fact that Darcy had grabbed at his shin was a bad sign.
“When players grab at the shin, it’s likely that the ACL has ruptured,” she said.
“The feeling is of the shin falling away from the knee. That’s why players grab their shin, it’s a telltale sign of an ACL.”
Birch also said a 2022 study showed that a family history of ACL injuries left an athlete 2½ times more likely to suffer a rupture. Darcy’s father Luke suffered two during his playing career.
The 208-centimetre key forward went straight to the change rooms after he hobbled off the field, visibly in pain and accompanied by medical staff.
Birch explained why the club doctors would have said they feared the worst for the young forward, even without having done scans.
“They would have done the ACL test in the rooms, and the reason they’re suggesting it’s an ACL is because there [would have been] way too much movement in the knee, suggesting the ligament is not intact,” she said.
Darcy has been a pillar of the Bulldogs’ forward line and particularly crucial due to the prolonged absence of Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.
Tom Liberatore lays a superb chase-down tackle on Brad Hill.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
But it was after Darcy went down that the Dogs took over the game, kicking seven consecutive goals en route to their 18.19 (127) to 8.8 (56) demolition of St Kilda in front of 35,511 at Marvel Stadium.
They held the Saints to a goalless second quarter, whereas the Bulldogs’ Aaron Naughton and returned captain Marcus Bontempelli kicked two apiece. By half-time, the Bulldogs led by 26 points.
From then on, the Bulldogs dominated the stoppages and territory game. The St Kilda defence was under siege, facing 69 inside 50s and recording only 31 of their own.
Stepping up in Darcy’s absence, Naughton was the beneficiary of many of the Dogs’ inside-50s, kicking three goals, which could have easily been more if not for inaccurate kicking.
Bontempelli booted two goals and had 30 disposals in his first game for the season. Credit: Getty Images
The Bulldogs were also bolstered by the return of Bontempelli for the first time this season.
His legendary Easter Sunday reappearance was capped off with 30 disposals and two goals, looking like he hadn’t missed a beat.
Sorely missed by Bulldogs supporters, he was given an almighty cheer when his name was announced pre-game. The Bulldogs move to 3-3 for the season and creep inside the top eight.
St Kilda, after an impressive opening 10 minutes, looked lethargic around the stoppages and were squarely outworked around the ground.
This was encapsulated when speedy Saints’ winger Bradley Hill was caught in a chase-down tackle by Tom Liberatore in the final term.
The few inside 50s they tallied in the second half were largely squandered. Mitch Owens (three) and Jack Higgins (two) were the only multiple goal scorers for St Kilda. Naughton (three), Rhylee West (three), Bontempelli (two), Matthew Kennedy (two) and Joel Freijah (two) were the most damaging for the Dogs.
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