Richmond's bare cupboard of rucks looks set to rear its head again with Samson Ryan likely to receive a one-match ban.
Ryan struck Jordon Sweet with an open hand to the stomach 70 metres off the ball, with the AFL cracking down on such incidents.
It bore striking similarity to Will Hayward's Good Friday hit on George Wardlaw, which was graded as medium impact to the body and resulted in a one-game ban.
The incident resulted in a down the field free kick which led to a Port Adelaide goal, with coach Adem Yze condemning Ryan post-game.
“You can't defend behind undisciplined acts, so I'll cop it if it's an execution error and we're just not as good as them, but when it's something like that, they can just crush your spirit,” Yze said.
“He just came in and apologised for it, said it was probably a silly thing to do and it was.
“For a young ruckman who hasn't played this season, and just half a game in the VFL, he was really important for us.
“His response post that, the next clearance, we won clearly and that's what I want him to really focus on. He needed to pay back the mistake and all I can ask for is that next centre bounce to jump in hard and pay in back 10-fold.”
Ryan finished with 21 hitouts to opponent Jordon Sweet's 25 in his first match back from injury, but did little to inspire confidence he would be a long term Toby Nankervis successor despite having a contract which runs until the end of 2027.
With Ryan playing managed minutes last week in the VFL returning from a foot injury, the Tigers opted for defender Campbell Gray as a makeshift ruck, supported by Ben Miller and Mykelti Lefau.
Gray was mauled by star duo Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy who had 57 hitouts combined to his five.
The Tigers will have the option of backing him in against GWS' Keiran Briggs, or handing a debut to Category B rookie Ollie Hayes-Brown, who remains a work in progress even at VFL level.
Ollie showed some good ruck craft, getting on top at centre bounce and he was finding a bit of his own football with a few marks long down the line. He can still work on his physicality to dominate stoppages around the ground and impose himself on the game more,” Tigers VFL coach Jack Madgen told Richmond Media following his performance last week.
Nankervis is sidelined for another five to seven weeks with a hamstring injury.
The Tigers had star VAFA ruck Boston Dowling trial for a list spot in pre-season, before handing it to small utility Tom Burton, who has started the season spritely in the VFL.
