Dogs lose star as Tigers make hard call

Western Bulldogs ruckman Tim English will miss at least one week and is in significant doubt for a crucial round 24 clash against GWS after scans confirmed damage to his ankle.

English, who is on the cusp of signing a new deal to remain at Whitten Oval, suffered “moderate grade” ligament damage in the loss to Adelaide, Bulldogs head doctor Chris Bell said.

“Scans have confirmed that he has a moderate grade ligament injury,” Bell said.

“Tim won’t play this week, and we will work through a process across the next seven days to determine his return to play plan.”

Richmond decided to pull the pin on Tom Lynch’s luckless 2024 campaign on Tuesday after the key forward had pushed to return from a hamstring injury in the final two games.

Tigers coach Adem Yze had last week left a return possible, but said the spearhead would only be risked if he could play in both rounds 23 and 24.

After a foot injury derailed his 2023 and subsequent pre-season, the 31-year-old missed 10 games with a hamstring tendon injury before he strained the other hamstring upon his return in Dustin Martin’s 300th game.

Richmond fitness boss Luke Meehan said the Tigers had decided getting Lynch a full pre-season would be “extremely important” before he returned to play.

“Tom’s actually now missed two full pre-seasons, and even on top of that, he’s missed two off-seasons,” Meehan said.

“So, he’s gone into the last two off-seasons rehabbing, and low level rehab. So, it’s quite exciting for us to get Tom healthy at this stage of the year, so he can have a decent break, attack his off-season and do a full pre-season, which will hold him in great stead for next year and be really exciting for our Tigers supporters.”

Port Adelaide could regain Mitch Georgiades from a quad strain with the key forward to be tested ahead of the Showdown, while Hawthorn will assess Changkuoth Jiath after he was a late withdrawal due to calf tightness ahead of Sunday’s clash against Carlton.

St Kilda ruled out Marcus Windhager returning this season due to the hamstring injury he suffered last month, while GWS duo Kieren Briggs and Stephen Coniglio will be tested for their respective shoulder issues ahead of possible returns against Fremantle.

Veteran Adelaide forward Taylor Walker says his friends told him he “looked like Raygun” as he rolled around on the Adelaide Oval after receiving a poke in the eye that required surgery and will force him to miss Saturday night’s showdown against Port Adelaide.

Walker copped an accidental blow from Western Bulldogs ruckman Tim English late in Sunday’s win that resulted in a tear in his retina.

He had surgery on Monday and regained full vision on Tuesday and remains hopeful of returning for the final game of the Adelaide season in round 24.

But he said the reaction to his reaction made him laugh after being likened to Australia’s controversial breaker from the Paris Olympics.

“The incident from Sunday was quite painful, I couldn’t open my eye for a while after. I had friends watching the game text me saying I looked like Raygun when I was rolling around on the floor,” Walker said.

“I had to see the specialist yesterday and he had a good little poke around, and it turns out I had a little tear in my retina which they think is from a bit of an older injury.

“Yesterday wasn’t great. For about three hours I had people poking in and around my eye, and I was quite sore last night.

“But as of this morning, I’ve got a lot more of my vision back, the surgery has worked wonders, so I’ll just take a bit more time to recover now.”

Walker, who is out of contract at the end of this season, said he wanted to play in the last round against the Swans and may need a new accessory.

“I am definitely a good chance to play next week (against Sydney), I will do whatever I can to play. I don’t want to miss games where I don’t have to,” Walker told Triple M in Adelaide.

“I might have to wear the Mason Cox glasses or something, I’m not quite sure yet, but I’m definitely keen to get back for that last game.”