St Kilda will be without midfielder Jade Gresham for the rest of the season.
The Saints’ 75-point loss to Essendon on Saturday was further compounded with Gresham injuring his right Achilles tendon in the second quarter.
Gresham was seen in St Kilda’s rooms on crutches and in a moon boot with coach Brett Ratten confirming the injury blow post-game.
"He'll be out for nine months, he's popped his Achilles," Ratten told reporters.
"It's pretty tough for him. He missed a lot of footy last year at the back end with a stress fracture which is very unusual for a player of his size.
"He's just starting to build and he cops an injury where he'll be out for the rest of the year."
Richmond defender Nick Vlastuin is set to miss the next four weeks after undergoing a secondary scan on his knee injury.
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick says Vlastuin, who hasn’t played since Round 1, will be sidelined for an extended period.
“He's had a secondary scan which hasn't come back good actually so he'll probably miss at least another month at this stage which is disappointing,” Hardwick told reporters after Richmond’s 45-point loss to Sydney on Saturday.
Kamdyn McIntosh (concussion) and Dion Prestia (hamstring) are likely to miss next week’s clash against Port Adelaide while captain Trent Cotchin (hamstring) is in doubt.
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West Coast skipper Luke Shuey re-injured his hamstring late in his side's 37-point win over Port Adelaide on Saturday night.
Shuey starred with 28 disposals and eight clearances in his comeback game before being subbed out with another soft-tissue injury that soured the Eagles’ victory.
The North Smith Medallist hurt his calf twice in pre-season followed by a hamstring setback prior to Round 1.
Eagles coach Adam Simpson said the club will continue to investigate Shuey’s soft tissue woes.
"We’ve just got to dig a bit deeper, but I'm not sure how much we can dig. We’ve dug pretty deep," Simpson told reporters post-game.
"That was the sour part of the night I suppose so really feel for him. I think it’s something he’s done before, which feels like it’s going to be a standard 21-dayer.
"We’ve tried every different program under the sun, so we’ll just keep going back to the drawing board until we get it right."
