One week removed from the seemingly serious and rather innocuous injury that prevented exceptional Bulldogs midfielder Ed Richards from taking part in his side's clash with the lowly Bombers, he was a surprise inclusion for his side at the weekend's Gather Round.
However, when the red-haired dynamo was helped from the field on Saturday night, in a match his side was already trailing (and by some margin), the question marks over his participation in the fixture became genuine alarm bells.
Richards' coach Luke Beveridge addressed the media shortly after his side's first loss of the campaign, and remained tight-lipped about his midfielder's prospects in the immediate term, with scans clearly necessitated by the unfortunate knock. One thing is clear, however - the ankle injury sustained against Hawthorn is not related to the knee niggle that prohibited the 26-year-old from taking the field against Essendon.
"We don't know the extent of it yet, we'll have a look at it through the imaging and then get back to you," Beveridge said.
"We just hope it's not too bad, but I can't give you anything until the medical staff give us something definitive."
In the Bulldogs' first loss of the year, in a game they entered without access to their first choice ruckman in Tim English, they were pummelled from stoppage, with their coach lamenting the ease with which the Hawks generated scores from this source.
"To give up six goals from our defensive 50 stoppages, it's unheard of for us, it's really poor," Beveridge said.
"It was significant, you'd have to say the most significant aspect of the scoring for either team … regardless of whether Tim's in the ruck or not – and this week he isn't – we shouldn't be giving up that kind of score."
Given their shellacking in this space, the Dogs are understandably desperate to have their big man back in the side, but he appears a certainty to miss the Bulldogs clash with the Cats next week, at a minimum, as he navigates an injury to his MCL.
"I think I said the other day it'll probably be mid next week (before a call is made on English's return), we're just waiting for it to settle and to give you that prediction. Not sure what it is yet."
Debutant Louis Emmett and habitual defender Rory Lobb were no match for Hawthorn's seasoned ruck pairing all night, losing multiple key metrics, and in devastating fashion.
The Hawks registered a hitout supremacy of 64-17 on the night, and lost hitouts to advantage by a damning 21-3. The Dogs engine room lost clearances by 12, and the side lost the contested possession count by 21 on a dirty evening for those of a Footscray persuasion.
Those numbers are unheard of for Beveridge's men, and highlight the obvious importance of a return to full health and efficacy for their mobile ruckman and versatile midfielder.
