Richmond have made an update on the ACL injury recoveries of Judson Clarke, Mykelti Lefau, Josh Gibcus and draftee Taj Hotton.
Clarke suffered his rupture in an April VFL match against Werribee, playing just a single game at AFL level prior to the severe injury.
Lefau's injury was devastating for Richmond fans after the cross-code mature-aged recruit played electrifyingly in his debut season, kicking 14 goals from 10 games including a 3.2 performance against West Coast. He fell victim to the ACL injury late in the game against Geelong after already tallying multiple goals to his name. It is the second ACL rupture since switching from rugby league, injuring the opposite leg in a 2022 VFL match.
Josh Gibcus cruelly suffered his second major injury in as many seasons after being sidelined for the duration of 2023 with a severe hamstring concern. Gibcus had his next injury blow in Round 1 of 2024 against Carlton, playing just the one full game since his breakout 2022.
Taj Hotton joins the club through the draft and has spent time with the rehab group in his early days after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in May 2024 at Haileybury College training. Projected early as a top five pick, Hotton slid down to Pick 12 and was Richmond's third first-round selection.
Richmond's high performance manager Ben Serpell provided details on their recovery ahead of the 2025 season.
โThe ACL guys are progressing really well. We're still holding firm on our decision to make sure that we give them time to come back and look at the full 12-month rehab for them," Serpell said.
"The reality is, we know, research tells us that the graft is still going to undergo some biological healing up until the 12-month mark, so where we can, we'll look after them in that space.
"Having said that,ย Judson Clarke's probably leading the charge with the ACL guys and, even then, we are probably not expecting him back until around about April.
"Mykelti Lefau's doing really well and he's out there running a fair bit at the moment. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks or next couple of months, we'll see guys like him start to integrate into drills, but we'll take our time with them.
"Taj Hottonย ran withย Josh Gibcus for the first time the other day over the other side of the field and boys got around them, stopped training for them so they could get out and cheer them along and, and they did quite well.
"They've got long careers as I said, so we want to make sure we look after them, make sure they're healed well and that we're minimising risk for re-injury when they come back."
With Richmond's precautionary approach, it's unlikely any of the quartet's faces will appear for the Tigers' first clash of the year against Carlton in Round 1, with the youthful influx into Richmond set to start them as overwhelming underdogs for their opening bout.