TOP DRAFT pick Sam Lalor looks set for a significant period on the sidelines after Richmond coach Adem Yze confirmed the young gun's hamstring injury "looks like a bad one".
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 in the first term.
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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.
"He's done the same one, and I think the mechanism's something that it's hard to train. So yeah, it looks like a bad one, which is really disappointing," Yze said.
"He loves his club, and he loves his teammates, and he just wants to help. So when you see him go out of the game straight away, it flattened us.
"Not only flattened his teammates, but flattened us as coaches, because not only the talent, but he just deserves a good go at it."
Yze said the club's medical team took a cautious approach with their No.1 draft pick, choosing to wait an extra week before recalling him.
"We were really cautious with him by giving him an extra week and bringing him in a week later. But I think that mechanism wouldn't have mattered when it happened," he said.
"The numbers that he was producing from training were ... like I said, he was ready the week before.
"So yeah, we've got to help him through that. We don't want this to happen again. We want him to have a long career without these little hiccups."
Yze was disappointed with his side's performance in the second quarter when Geelong kicked eight goals to Richmond's one.
"We lost our way in the second quarter," he said.
"The second quarter wasn't good enough. When I say not good enough, they were just better than us.
"They were better around the contest, they smashed us around clearance, they smashed us at inside 50s, and they smashed us at contested possession. It was a footy lesson, so yeah, really disappointing."
For Chris Scott, he was pleased with his side's performance, particularly with first-gamer George Stevens, who finished with 21 disposals, eight clearances and a goal.
"We were confident that he (Stevens) could come in and display the traits that he's shown at VFL level immediately at the AFL level," Scott said.
"It's rare for a very young player to come in, make his debut, play virtually as a permanent onballer against seasoned players. You can disregard Richmond's ladder position when it comes to the midfield.
"You're talking (Dion) Prestia, (Tim) Taranto, (Jacob) Hopper, (Toby) Nankervis in there. They're an experienced, high-quality group of players and George looked at home right from the start, which is, again, they're high expectations from us, but we were confident he could deliver on that."
When questioned about Bailey Smith's late withdrawal, Scott explained that his star midfielder woke up feeling unwell.
Smith was one of two changes for Saturday's match with goalkicker Tyson Stengle removed from the squad on Friday for personal reasons.
"We knew about Stengle a good 24 hours out, so at least we could plan a little bit for that one. Bailey, waking up sick, made it a little bit harder," Scott said.
"I'll probably follow up a little bit more, but experience tells me that when the medical staff tell you something and it's emphatic, then the next questions don't matter. You've just got to move on and get on with it.
"So it was a bit of a reshuffle, but maybe it speaks, I mean, a debutant coming in was good, but maybe it does speak to the fact that there's a little bit more depth in that midfield group than maybe we've had the previous couple of years."
