Richmond can't take a trick on the injury front as young emerging tall Thomas Sims went down with a suspected ACL injury in the VFL on Saturday.
The Tigers' already lengthy injury list saw Jonty Faull (concussion) and Tom Lynch (throat) added to it last night in their victory over Essendon.
Richmond had just enough cattle left to cover its 23 players and three emergency spots, but with the three new additions to the injury list, the Tigers will be pondering if they have to request the AFL for top up players for Round 12's clash against Sydney in a week's time.
Sims left the ground in the hands of trainers and was understandably visibly emotional.
Coach Adem Yze was at the ground on Saturday to watch Richmond's VFL side take on Essendon, and spoke on SEN about Sims' injury.
"Unfortunately, it's not looking good," Yze said on SEN's Crunch Time. "The VFL doctor's had a look at it and the initial diagnosis is it might be his ACL. Obviously, we will have to wait and go and get scans and work out exactly what it is, but right now, it's not looking great for the kid. Which is really unfortunate.
"It's his first game back. He has come back from a navicular and he has gone through a fair bit over the pre-season, so yeah, they are the highs and lows of footy. We have a great win last night and then get some devastating news today. Our thoughts are with him.
With another young Tiger sidelined, Yze shared his sympathy for the family of players such as Sims who go through the pain of rehab alongside their loved one.
"That's footy," he said. "We had a bit of a joke about it; 10 o'clock you feel like the boys are kicking the dew off in an early VFL game, boys are slipping around.
"To see his family, they ride every bump while their young lad is running around. To see his mum and dad, they have obviously helped him through what he went through at the end of last year with his elbow and then obviously found out that he had a navicular so the rehab process around that is, there is a fair bit of time, so he has worked his butt off to get back and then obviously first game back he has done that."
