Star Richmond forward Jack Riewoldt will miss up to a month of AFL action after scans on Friday on his injured wrist.
The scans revealed Riewoldt fractured the radius in his right arm and ruptured a ligament in his wrist during the Tigers’ disappointing 44-point loss to Collingwood at the MCG.
He won’t require any surgery and will wear a splint for a fortnight to immobilise the wrist.
Riewoldt has a small un-displaced fracture of his radius, and ruptured a ligament in his wrist in last night’s match against Collingwood, Richmond confirmed via a statement.
He is expected to be unavailable for selection for approximately four weeks.
A week after losing key defender Alex Rance for the season, Riewoldt crashed to the turf at the Punt Road end during the second quarter of Thursday night’s clash and came up cradling his arm in obvious pain.
“While we’re disappointed that Jack will be unavailable for a period of time, we’re fortunate that his injury wasn’t more severe,” Richmond General Manager Football Neil Balme said in a club statement.
Riewoldt spoke briefly with reporters after the scans, before he went to hospital for a consultation.
“It’s obviously sore,” Riewoldt told reporters.
“I don’t know too much, I just had a scan.”
Riewoldt, who has missed just nine games since the start of 2008, talked with injured Collingwood defender Lynden Dunn while he was having the scans and said things could be worse.
Dunn suffered a knee injury on Thursday in a VFL practice match which was his first game back from a knee reconstruction after he tore his ACL in round 15 last season.
“I had a chat to Lynden Dunn while I was in there, so I could be in a much worse position,” Riewoldt said.
“There’s obviously guys at the moment that are struggling with major knee injuries but it is what it is.”
The Tigers can ill afford to lose Riewoldt for an extended period after defensive stalwart Rance was ruled out for the season with a knee injury suffered in the round one win over Carlton.
Richmond, who laid just 31 tackles, were monstered at the contest and badly beaten in the air by the Pies, who had a whopping 167 more possessions and 96 more marks.
Despite those lopsided statistics, the Tigers were just 12 points down at three-quarter time before Collingwood rattled home with five goals to one in the final term.
Cat
Roar Guru
Whats not accurate about the first paragraph? Richmond has had almost no injuries for the better part of two years.
Col from Brissie
Roar Guru
Took Fasolo 7 weeks after he broke his wrist.
Bangkokpussey
Roar Rookie
Gotta feel for the tiges supporters. They've had a reasonable run with injuries but losing the bookends is a blow.
Raimond
Roar Guru
Someone on Twitter said 8, so you might be right, Cat.
Slane
Guest
Hard to imagine his wrist being fully fit in a month.
Peter Warrington
Guest
Was obvious it was broken from the way he immediately held it. Good effort playing on, incl in the ruck
Peter Warrington
Guest
The first para is not true, but the second is
Jacko
Guest
Here are last nights national TV figures - not sure if nationals means regionals coz I think they would take longer to get in but both codes had popular teams though AFL was Victorian heavy and NRL had 2 states "Even though Seven’s AFL saw Collingwood and Richmond playing, the channel's audience fell from the 993,000 it pulled in last week for Richmond v Carlton, to 838,000 last night. In contrast the NRL game between Brisbane and St George on Nine saw the audience jump to 769,000 from the 693,000 who watched the all-Sydney game between Souths and St George. 228,000 watched the AFL on Fox Sports and the same number watched the NRL. A week ago, 263,000 watched the AFL and 230,000 the NRL game"
Daz
Roar Pro
It is sad. He was a loyal servant of Melbourne right through our darkest era, and while not a star, was frequently one of our best players in the worst periods. He fell out of favour and found some career-best form at the Pies. I think (afltables.com will have the answer) he is the current record holder for games without finals. He probably deserved to play at least one, as much as anyone.
anon
Roar Pro
They've had a magical run with injuries the last two seasons, now their injury luck is starting to average out. West Coast won a premiership minus Gaff and Nick Natanui, so if the Tigers are any good they won't complain and find a way to overcome these setbacks.
TomC
Roar Guru
Big four weeks for Richmond - GWS and Port away, Sydney at Docklands, Melbourne at the G. I'd say without Riewoldt and Rance the odds change quite a bit on those contests.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Sad to see players missing. Lynden may be finished with this. He never played a final at the Demons, missed our finals last year and now has no chance unless we play finals and he does a Goldsack and somehow makes it back. I suspect regardless the club will find a role for him moving forward as he is a much loved player. He has been coaching with the womens team and perhaps may continue down that path.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
And a confirmed ACL for Collingwood’s Lynden Dunn. Goddamn, this game is rough sometimes.
Cat
Roar Guru
Just my gut feel with no medical training or extra insight but 4 weeks seem hopeful. I wouldn't be surprised if it took longer. The good thing is Jack will be able to continue to run and keep his cardio up for when his wrist is healed.