Horrific injuries turn Dreamtime at the G into a horror show for Essendon Bombers, Richmond Tigers as three players hospitalised
Essendon’s demoralizing loss to Richmond was compounded by a massive casualty list and Dreamtime at the ‘G’ turned into a nightmare on the injury front for both clubs.
Bombers captain Andrew McGrath, key forward Archer May and Richmond frontman Tom Lynch were hospitalized after seven players sustained injuries in the Tigers’ 18-point 10.14 (74) to 7.14 (56) win at the MCG on Friday night.
The Dons were hardest hit with five injuries; They lost McGrath to a sickening jaw fracture, Sam Durham to a concussion, Matt Guelfi to a hamstring strain and Jye Caldwell to a suspected ankle syndrome injury (all before half-time) and May to a rib problem.
The Tigers lost promising young forward Jonty Faull to a concussion moments after he accidentally elbowed McGrath in a contest; Lynch, meanwhile, played the match unable to speak when he received a blow to his voice box from Ben McKay’s shoulder in the second term.
Essendon’s heavy injuries posed extenuating circumstances for manager Brad Scott; he too had to send Caldwell onto the field to ensure he was on the team’s bench in the final quarter after May was injured.
The Bombers have fallen to last place in the standings, one win behind the 17th-place Tigers and in danger of capturing the wooden spoon for the second time since 1933.
McGrath’s injury is the most serious of the injuries Scott describes in detail.
“Very bad,” Scott said of his captain’s condition.
“When you break your jaw and a tooth comes out during the incident and there’s a pretty noticeable crack in the jaw that you can see and feel, that’s not a good thing.
“I’m not diagnosing it, that’s obvious, but sometimes you can put a plate in it and they can come back very quickly, but I’m not sure about that.”
Caldwell had his battles in the first quarter but played the game bravely. Bombers fans were dreaming of a big steal late on when they cut their lead to just seven points from 40 meters out.
“I don’t know exactly what happened, but while I was talking to him in the quarter, someone fell on his leg,” Scott said.
“I am not a doctor, this is a syndesmosis mechanism, but as I told the doctors, if there is a syndesmosis injury, let’s remove it because it is very important.
“He’s a fighter but they assured me there was no risk of him taking any further damage. Unfortunately we didn’t have to take him out because we would have played it short.”
Durham suffered a concussion after colliding with Lynch head-on with his knee in a marking contest in the first quarter. The sturdy midfielder tried to play for a few more minutes, but left the ground after handballing the ball and failing to make contact while trying to handpass.
The Bombers, who already had 12 men on the injury list before the game, are now in the same territory as they were in the second half of a miserable 2025 season in which they were also destroyed.
“It’s a bit like last week when Peter Wright injured his PCL in the second round contest and was just trying to limp his way through,” Scott said.
“We don’t shy away from the challenges ahead, but tonight it’s hard not to feel that sense of deja vu as we’ve been calling players to the park for the last 18 months to build something to show improvement, from half back to half front, into the goal square, throwing the ball on and trying to fix it.
“In the second quarter, when we were in complete disarray, we lost control of the game a little bit and our guys went out.”
The Tigers were considering sending Lynch to hospital but he wanted to play the game to honor premiership hero Jayden Short in his 200th game.
Lynch, who had a difficult night in front of the stick, kicked two goals, including the invaluable major in the final quarter to fend off Essendon’s attack.
“He’s a tough dude and he’s the leader of our football club for a reason,” Tigers coach Adem Yze said of Lynch.
“We thought he was going to the hospital at halftime. He didn’t want to. He wanted to play for Shorty. He couldn’t talk, his throat hurt, so we don’t know how bad it was.”
“It was just about his voice. It’s funny, he’s the godfather of our forward line and we need him to talk and lead, so we obviously gave it to our young forwards to shoulder that burden because he couldn’t do that.”
“His competition and air power tonight were exactly what we needed. He survived the match and has now gone to hospital for scans and precautions.” [I’m] “I’m really proud of his effort and Shorty would be too.”
The Tigers had 18 players on the injury list throughout the week but will have four players on the AFL list in the VFL on Saturday.
Bombers’ spinner Darcy Parish won the Yiyooken Trophy after being adjudged best on ground in a losing effort on Friday night, but accepted the award to boos from Richmond fans and most of the Bombers’ faithful had already left the ground.
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