ACL injury fear for star on a nightmare night for Essendon; Dockers prevail over Hawks in Perth thriller

Essendon fear star midfielder Nic Martin has injured his anterior cruciate ligament in the Bombers’ upset loss to Richmond in one of the worst matches of the season.

The Tigers celebrated premiership hero Nick Vlastuin’s 250th game with a stirring nine-point victory – 6.10 (46) to 4.13 (37) – despite not scoring a goal in the second and third quarters.

Martin’s right knee twisted when he was tackled by Rhyan Mansell in the first quarter of the game. His left knee crashed into the Astroturf surrounding the boundary, but the damage was done to the ACL in his right knee.

The Bombers are also sweating on a foot injury to important on-baller Will Setterfield, who was trodden on. He was sporting a large ice pack to his right foot in the rooms.

The Dons’ lengthy injury list has provided an alibi for their performances this season but a loss to the similarly depleted and rebuilding Tigers will put Brad Scott’s team under scrutiny.

The Tigers and Bombers came into this game with losing streaks of seven and five games respectively – and played accordingly.

The two clubs played the first goalless quarter of the season in a match riddled with errors. Neither side could perform the basics of the game. Kicks were punted out of bounds under little pressure. Ground balls were fumbled, and uncontested chest marks were grassed.

Surprisingly, the 47 kick clangers exceeded by just three the season average of 44.

Not that those in the yellow and black in the crowd of 52,125 will mind. For the Tigers faithful who have kept coming in this dark season, they were rewarded with a fourth victory of the year, and a win to complement their memorable upset over another fierce rival, Carlton, on the first night of their campaign.

And they saw a favourite son, Vlastuin, honoured in a milestone game. He was chaired off by Nathan Broad and Ben Miller to a guard of honour formed by players from both clubs.

Fittingly, the gun defender made a key spoil in the closing seconds which snuffed out any hope the Bombers had of pinching the game at the death.

Full-time: Richmond 6.10 (46) defeat Essendon 4.13 (37)

That’s it for the blog tonight. Thank you for joining our Saturday footy coverage.

Fremantle forced their way back into the top eight with a 13-point win over Hawthorn in an intense contest at Optus Stadium. GWS triumphed over Geelong in Sydney, meanwhile Adelaide got the better of the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium.

Richmond narrowly beat Essendon at the MCG, but we should probably never speak of that game again.

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Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir says the Dockers will savour their exhilarating win over Hawthorn, but are conscious of the monumental challenge that awaits next week – ladder-leaders Collingwood at the MCG.

“It’s the biggest challenge in footy. You go not only to take on Collingwood, who’re the best team in the comp, but you go take on ‘the Magpie Army’ and the crowd – it’s a great challenge for us,” Longmuir said.

“We’ll enjoy this win first – wins are hard to come by. [We’ll] allow our players to sit on it for a few days, [and] then start prepping for Collingwood.”

The Magpies won their last clash in round nine, when Jamie Elliot kicked six goals to propel them to a 14-point win at Optus Stadium.

Essendon coach Brad Scott said tonight’s error-riddled and low-scoring affair against Richmond was a “flattening” result for the battered team.

“That’s not how AFL footy is supposed to look,” he admitted. “For us, it’s trying to put on a brave face and be positive and upbeat, which is what you need to be as a leader. But it’s getting sort of hard to deny that it’s not flattening.”

However, Scott said it was important for the team to “fight our way through it”.

“Just deal with the circumstances in front of us at the moment, and not try and dwell on what we haven’t got, and focus more on the privilege of playing AFL footy,” he said.

Essendon’s Nic Martin is the latest victim on the Bombers’ injury list, with coach Brad Scott admitting the midfielder has “almost certainly” done his ACL.

“That just sends a shiver down everyone’s spine at quarter-time when that word ripples out.” Scott said in a post-match interview.

Martin’s right knee twisted when he was tackled by Rhyan Mansell in the first quarter of the game. His left knee crashed into the Astroturf surrounding the boundary, but the damage was done to the ACL in his right knee.

Scott said Will Setterfield had a “pretty serious foot injury as well”.

“It’s a tough situation, but we’ve just got to find our way through it,” Scott said.

The Dockers have eventually capitalised on a flurry of inside-50 entries.

Sean Darcy converted a set shot, before Josh Treacy kicked truly several minutes later.

Suddenly, the home side leads by 11 points and the crowd is right behind them now.

Fremantle have again kicked the first two goals of the quarter – Pat Voss bringing the margin back to two points with a 45-metre bomb (fittingly on the same night his former side, Essendon, struggled to score from anywhere).

It came after Sam Switkowski kicked his third in what’s been an impressive return from a hamstring lay-off. The Dockers believe he is one of the league’s best small forwards, and he’s showing why.