Gibcus and Smillie faced with injury setbacks

Richmond’s High Performance Manager, Ben Serpell, provides the Round 8 Injury Report ahead of the Club’s clash with West Coast.

Despite Friday night’s Anzac Day Eve loss, Serpell took positives from key forward Tom Lynch’s performance after working his way back from a hamstring injury.

“It was a tough result on the weekend, the guys put in a lot of effort, and it was great to see Lynchy back out there,” Serpell said.

“He had some great involvements in the game off the back of his hammy and had some really good impact. Most guys got through the game pretty well.”

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Tim Taranto: Concussion, Test

“Tim’s progressed very well through his concussion protocols,” Serpell said.

“He’s just got to get through one more session, and then we can say he’s cleared to play for this weekend.”

Toby Nankervis: Hamstring, 2-4 weeks

“Toby’s doing really well, progressing as planned,” Serpell said.

“We expect him back in around two to three weeks, so that lands him to return just before the Dreamtime game and (we are then) going into a five-day turnaround, (so) we may actually hold out to four weeks.”

Kaleb Smith: Groin, 3 weeks

“We’ve been managing some of Leb’s groin soreness since November last year, and it probably hit the tipping point last weekend when he got through training and returned to the club the next day with a bit of soreness,” Serpell said.

“We feel the best thing for Kaleb over the next little while is to just put him through a conditioning block and make sure that we can settle that down and look forward to him having a really positive year at the back end of the season.”

Maurice Rioli: Hamstring, 3-4 weeks

“Maurice is progressing really well in his rehab from his hamstring strain,” Serpell said.

“We’d expect him to be available for managed minutes around the Dreamtime game.”

Hugo Ralphsmith: Knee, 5-7 weeks

“Sadly, we saw Hugo Ralphsmith go down in the last few minutes of the game,” Serpell said.

“He unfortunately sustained an MCL injury, and that’s going to see him out for the next five to six weeks. Sadly, that’s going to see him return roughly around the bye week, so he might have to extend his return to play a little bit longer.”

Sam Banks: Collarbone, 5-6 weeks

“Banksy came out of surgery in a more positive manner than he went into surgery, so he’ll be back out running in the next little while,” Serpell said.

“His pain’s settled down, and we’re expecting him to get involved pretty soon. Hopefully we can see him out for some game time just before the bye, but if we can’t, definitely start straight after the bye.”

Josh Gibcus: Knee, TBC

“Anyone who watched the VFL game on the weekend would have seen Josh Gibcus come off the field early in the first quarter,” Serpell said.

“He was assessed for an ACL strain, and it was seen to be intact, so he went back on the field.

“Unfortunately, Josh presented for the injury clinic in the next couple of days, so we sent him off for an MRI, and we saw that, unfortunately, Josh Gibcus has sustained an ACL sprain, which is not to be confused with a rupture.

“He will sit out the next little while as we decide what our course of action is going to be. It is an uncommon injury, so we need to be considered with our approach for his return to play.

“We need to consult a number of different surgeons. We can see, for instance, Gab Seymour from our women’s program sustained a similar injury last year. She didn’t go through surgery, and she’s back out training.

“So we are hoping for the best for Josh. To be clear, this is not the same knee that Josh underwent reconstruction surgery for not long ago, and we’ll update our fans when we can on the course of action we’ll take with Josh Gibcus.”

Josh Smillie: Quad, TBC

“Sadly, since last week’s update, we saw Josh Smillie go out and train. He was kicking a light ball with Jack Ziebell on the field, and he sustained a small re-tear of the injury he acquired in February earlier this year,” Serpell said.

“To be clear, the original surgical site’s still intact, so we are going to shift him back to the TBC time frame.

“Both Josh’s (Smillie and Gibcus) are clearly very frustrated with their injuries at this point in time, as is everyone at the Club.

“I think at this point in time it’s really important that we get our arms around these guys and support them through their respective recoveries and make sure that we get behind them as they progress forward.”

Tom Sims: Foot, TBC

“Tom Sims is getting involved in more and more football drills, and all going well, he’ll be back into full training next week,” Serpell said.

“Provided he progresses well through that, we will hopefully have a return to play timeline for him next week.”

Judson Clarke: ACL, TBC

“Judson came back from Oregon University in good spirits and in a great space, so we’d expect him to get more and more involved over the next few weeks,” Serpell said.

“We are expecting him to get involved in some contact training in two weeks’ time and shortly after that, into full training.

“A couple of weeks of that and we’d expect him to get some managed minutes, so hopefully soon we’ll have some return to play timelines for him also. “

Concussion

Test

Hamstring

2-4 weeks

Nankervis injured his hamstring in the Round 2 game against Gold Coast.

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