West Coast coach Adam Simpson thinks Jai Culley has likely torn his ACL in the Eagles’ loss to Richmond on Saturday.
The No. 1 pick in the mid-season rookie draft last year was forced off the field in the first quarter.
The coach comforted the 20-year-old, but in the post-match press conference, he said things didn’t look good for the midfielder.
A Big Setback for the 20-year-old
Simpson, who was asked to assess Culley’s injury, claimed it was potentially an ACL, but they would have to wait and see.
The coach added that things didn’t look great and the player’s knee wasn’t looking good, but that they would first wait for the injury to be confirmed.
Simpson was quite emotional as he was delivering the injury news, saying that Culley had “done so much” to get to where he was.
What made it worse for the coach was that Culley was at the start of his career, and if the ACL injury was confirmed, it would be “a pretty big setback” for the player.
The Eagles’ coach blamed the injury on the brutality of the game, adding that things don’t always go your way.
West Coast’s long injury list shows that not much has been going the Eagles’ way lately.
A Dion Presta Hat-Trick and an Impressive Shai Bolton
But it didn’t necessarily look like West Coast wouldn’t get anything from the match against Richmond, at least not until the third quarter.
It was then that Dion Presta kicked three straight goals and took the Tigers clear.
Shai Bolton, who was the best player on the day, kicked three goals and added 31 disposals and 13 score involvements.
Tigers’ coach Damien Hardwick said that Bolton was “a byproduct” of how they had been playing and that he was a really important player for them.
Hardwick reserved special praise for Bolton’s unselfishness, saying the way he moved and set up the game “in and around 50” helped the Tigers look really dangerous.
With the win over the Eagles, Richmond ended a five-game losing run.
West Coast made it seven losses out of eight, with the 46-point defeat being their sixth consecutive loss of the season.
