The Sydney Swans have confirmed that Sam Naismith has suffered a serious knee injury.
The 27-year-old ruckman sustained a ruptured ACL in last night’s loss to the Western Bulldogs and will now be sidelined for a lengthy spell.
Naismith has injured his right knee which is the same one that kept him out of the entire 2018 season.
“It is terrible news for Sam and really disappointing for the team,” Swans GM of Football Charlie Gardiner told sydneyswans.com.au.
“He will see a surgeon next week and we will then lay out next steps from there.
“Our thoughts are with Sam at the moment and we will wrap our arms around him as he gets on with his recovery.”
Previous knee injuries have restricted Naismith to 30 AFL games since 2014 with his 2018 and 2019 campaigns completely cut out.
He played his first game since 2017 in Round 1 against Adelaide before adding his second for 2020 last night but again will be forced out of the game for a large portion of time.
To add further bad news to the situation, Fox Footy has reported today that Naismith's former teammate Alex Johnson has suffered a suspected seventh ACL tear while training with VAFA club Old Xaverians.
The 2012 premiership player sustained six torn ACLs during his 47-game AFL career with the Swans with his final game for the club coming in 2018.