RICHMOND vice-captain Harriet Cordner has confirmed she tore the ACL in her right knee during Saturday night's loss to Fremantle.

The 29-year-old key defender was helped off the Swinburne Centre following the innocuous second-quarter incident.

With Cordner in clear pain on the deck and her teammates looking on in some distress, the game stopped for a handful of minutes while Richmond trainers helped the former Demon off the ground.

Cordner took to social media to say she was "absolutely devastated" after scans confirmed she will need a full knee reconstruction.

Richmond head of women’s football Kate Sheahan said the injury was a bitter blow for an excellent footballer, person and leader.

"Harriet has been exceptional since the day she walked into our football club, both as a pillar in our on-field defence and as a person to have around the place, so we are really feeling for her at the moment," she said.

"We will all wrap our arms around ‘H’ and she has the full support of the entire football club for her recovery and rehabilitation.

"Harriet is a work-horse with huge professionalism in the way she prepares herself to play and perform. We know that she will attack her rehabilitation first-class and that she will continue to shine as a leader within our program while on the sidelines for the rest of the season."

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