RICHMOND has confirmed No.1 draft pick Sam Lalor will miss the rest of the season and could require surgery on his latest hamstring injury.
Lalor lasted less than three minutes in his side’s clash against Geelong on Saturday when he sustained the injury to his left hamstring while executing a tackle on the outer wing.
It’s the second time this season Lalor has hurt the same hamstring, after injuring it previously in Richmond’s Dreamtime at the ‘G match against Essendon in round 11.
The Tigers, who said the 18-year-old’s rehab from the initial injury was ‘strong and meticulous’, confirmed he may now need to go under the knife.
“We are all devastated for the young man, and I am sure our fans are too,” Richmond high performance boss Ben Serpell said.
“After a strong, meticulous rehab, unfortunately, he did re-injure his hamstring. It is his third time on that hamstring and the second (occasion) with us.
“We are a bit concerned about the integrity of the hamstring structure.
“As part of that we will consult a few surgeons over the next little while to see if there is some surgical intervention available for us.”
The club defended it’s management of their young star, saying in a statement he had “trained strongly in the six weeks leading up to his return, hitting strong GPS numbers on the training track and all his strength markers in the gym”.
Serpell said “the injury mechanism” on Saturday was different to the one suffered earlier in the season.
“The injury mechanism here for Sam this time was very different to his original injury mechanism,” Serpell said.
“He sustained the injury in a tackle. I think anyone who throws their body at the game (in the same way) as he did, and credit to him for doing that, is going to put their body at some risk irrespective of their injury history.”
