Brisbane premiership defender Noah Answerth will miss the opportunity to win consecutive flags after he ruptured his Achilles during Thursday's win over Carlton.
Answerth came from the ground during the second quarter after an innocuous incident, and the severity was confirmed by Lions coach Chris Fagan in his post-match address.
"Yeah, it's a bad injury. I think he's ruptured his Achilles," Fagan said.
"I'm no medical expert, but I think they're usually around about a nine-month recovery from surgery, which is such a pity. He was playing very well, terrific game, I thought.
"He's one of the more popular members of our team. He's the ultimate team player, and we're all very, very disappointed for him.
"He was a really important part of our premiership team last year. He's just one of those blokes who will do anything for you, so we'll all be a bit flat about that."
"I'll see you next year." ๐
๐ฃ๏ธ Noah Answerth following a season-ending Achilles injury#AFLBluesLions | @cleary_mitch pic.twitter.com/J9qpQjZdLj
โ 7AFL (@7AFL) July 10, 2025
Answerth's team-first attitude was immediately on show following his heartbreaking injury, with teammate Cam Rayner revealing the 25-year-old put his troubles aside to ask how he was going.
"We'll rally around him," Rayner said.
"It's obviously a really tough injury. Talk about me going down at half time, he was on the crutches and [came] back and asked how I was (at HT), and that just speaks volumes of his character.
"But we've got a lot of players who can step up and fill that void."
Answerth is the latest victim of a long-term injury in recent years, following on from Will Ashcroft (knee), Keidean Coleman (knee), Jack Payne (knee), Lincoln McCarthy (knee), Darcy Gardiner (knee) and Tom Doedee (knee).
Coleman poses as the likeliest replacement for the injured Victoria, but is currently battling his own injury woes.
The classy left-footer returned from an ACL injury for one solitary match before he returned to the sidelines. He is playing VFL this weekend.
As is Doedee, who has suffered setbacks since crossing from Adelaide to the Lions ahead of the 2024 season. He is yet to debut for his new club but has featured eight times in the reserves this year.
Conor McKenna, Shadeau Brain and Bruce Reville could also play a role for Fagan.
