Young Bulldogs star Sam Darcy has been cleared of a torn ACL after an ugly landing in the team’s Easter Sunday win.
The 21-year-old came down awkwardly in a marking contest in the first quarter against St Kilda at Docklands Stadium on Sunday, jarring and hyper-extending his left knee.
Darcy was left clutching at his knee in pain and left the field soon after, with concerning scenes after the 71-point win as Bulldogs great Luke Darcy looked ashen-faced while talking to his son in the locker room.
It is just less than 20 years to the day since the 226-game Bulldogs great suffered the first of two serious knee injuries that sidelined him for most of 2005-06.
But on Monday, the Bulldogs said scans revealed the key forward had avoided damage to his ACL, which could have ended his season.
“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.
An impaction fracture is effectively when the femur drives down into the lower leg bones and causes a break.
The club said surgery will likely be required to repair the damage, with a definitive recovery timeline to be confirmed in coming weeks.
The injury, while serious, will come as some relief to Darcy and the Dogs, who were “fearing the worst” in the immediate aftermath.
Coach Luke Beveridge intends to get creative to replace 205cm target in the forward line as the eighth-placed Bulldogs (3-3) chase a finals berth.
Beveridge will turn to his “role-player options” to fill the void next to Aaron Naughton, and hinted he could also use a smaller line-up, starting with the round-seven meeting with GWS in Canberra.
“Buku (Khamis) can play either end of the ground, as James (O’Donnell) can,” Beveridge said.
“We think long-term James is probably more of a key back for us.
“It’s not in the Plan A approach to the game to play Rory (Lobb) forward at the start of a game, but it is an option.
“He’ll do anything for the team — he’s a great team man like that.
“And the other option is to just play a bit smaller at times.”
ABC/AAP
