Star Western Bulldogs forward Sam Darcy has dodged the worst-case scenario but will still miss a significant period after scans confirmed he did not suffer an ACL rupture in Sunday’s landslide win over St Kilda.
Darcy, who kicked 14 goals in his first five matches of the year to become a Coleman Medal contender, sustained an impaction knee fracture and ligament damage when he hyperextended his left leg in an opening-quarter marking contest against Saint Anthony Caminiti.
Sam Darcy has avoided an ACL rupture.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
The surprise development means the 21-year-old spearhead could play a role late in the year in the Bulldogs’ finals bid, although club officials expect him to still require surgery.
The Dogs did not provide a return-to-play timeline, but Darcy is set to miss multiple months.
Coach Luke Beveridge stopped short post-match of confirming an ACL diagnosis, but football operations manager Matthew Egan said during the game the club feared that was Darcy’s fate.
Darcy’s father, Bulldogs great Luke Darcy, sustained two ACL tears in his own 226-game career. The Darcy family, including Luke and Sam’s mother Rebecca, were in tears as they embraced Dogs football boss Sam Power in the rooms in the injury aftermath.
The Bulldogs announced Darcy’s scan results on Monday.
“Scans have cleared the ACL of damage, but confirmed that he has suffered a significant knee injury with an impaction fracture at the front of his knee and associated ligament damage at the back of his knee,” Bulldogs head of sports medicine Chris Bell said.
Darcy had leapfrogged Aaron Naughton and the absent Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (personal reasons) – whom Beveridge said was not a potential replacement in “the immediate term” – to be the club’s main inside-50 target, while also spelling Tim English in the ruck.
Naughton took a season-best five marks inside 50 once Darcy left the game, and is set to carry a significant load until Darcy returns.
Beveridge switched Buku Khamis into attack and sent James O’Donnell back at the start of Sunday’s game, while usual-defender Rory Lobb finished the match up forward and is an “option” to play there, but the coach said that was not his “plan A”.
Finding a back-up for English will also be a factor in Beveridge’s call. He hinted that Lobb would not be that man if he was playing in defence.
“[Lobb] will do anything for the team – he’s a great team man like that – and the other option is just to play a bit smaller at times,” Beveridge said.
“We obviously need a second ruck, and Sam can do that at times, and so whether it’s Buku or James or Aaron, at times – do we need someone else there to give him a chop out? It’s hard rucking from your back end with the secondary, but we’ll take that all into account, and we’ll pick a balanced team.”
The Bulldogs, who are in eighth spot with three wins from six games, face GWS at Manuka Oval on Saturday night, and Beveridge said their strong group of key-position players at both ends could impact selection.
They have other tall options who are yet to play at senior level if they go down that path.
Key defender Jedd Busslinger, who was an emergency against St Kilda, and 200-centimetre forward Jordan Croft are both first-round picks and highly touted.
It remains to be seen when Ugle-Hagan, who led the Dogs with 43 goals last year, will be in the selection mix again.
“[Ugle-Hagan playing] is not going to happen in the immediate term, so it’s probably not worth discussing at the moment. As far as any replacements go, we really can’t consider ‘Marra’,” Beveridge said.
