Richmond young gun Josh Gibcus can see the light at the end of the tunnel of his injury recovery.
Gibcus has played only two games since he featured 18 times in an impressive debut season in 2022 due to a complex hamstring injury in 2023, before rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in round one last year.
The 22-year-old required secondary knee surgery last year and didn't run for nine months due to complications with his rehabilitation, but returned to Qatar in the off-season to spend time inside internationally renowned sports medicine practice Aspetar.
Since starting to run again in January, Gibcus has gradually built his workload up to a point where the Tigers are now hoping the 2021 pick No.9 will be ready in 7-10 weeks.
Speaking at the Swinburne Centre ahead of training on Thursday, Richmond coach Adem Yze believes the key defender will return for a block of games in the closing months of the home and away season.
"We are really confident with that," Yze said at Punt Road.
"He will join in a few main sessions, which is great. He has a timeline now of 7-10 weeks, so now he can see the light.
"We were just really mindful that he needed a block of training. Pre-seasons are really short, so if you have any interruptions, let alone if you’re coming back from a knee reco, you need to get a pre-season into him. Right now, he's doing that. He'll be running around today in a yellow hat, so you will notice him.
"He is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our fitness staff have done an amazing job with him, they’ve been really patient. He is such an important player for us, such a highly talented kid that we just can’t take any risk with. We’ve got the right process in place, so hopefully we give him a great opportunity later in the year.”
Mykelti Lefau will be the next of the ‘ACL five’ to return when he likely plays in the VFL this Sunday after ticking off the final stage of his rehab last weekend. Tylar Young is aiming to play next weekend, while first-round pick Taj Hotton is at least six more weeks away.
Josh Smillie, the 2024 pick No.7 suffered a third hamstring issue since being drafted – all have been minor.
Yze is mindful of the mental challenges high picks deal with when they don’t play in their first seasons in the AFL.
"We sat down with him (Smillie), because I think you can wear that being a high draft pick; being a highly talented kid can create some anxiety about trying to get in," Yze said.
"We've got to be really patient with this kid. When he comes back, we need him to be playing some consistent footy. We sat down with [high performance manager] Ben Serpell and set out a strong plan.
"It is only a minor setback, but we'll give him an extra couple of weeks to get his body right, so when he is ready he is hitting the ground running. He is a really resilient kid, so he will be OK. He is not too far away."
Triple premiership midfielder Dion Prestia was the first player out on the track on Thursday and is building towards a return, with Yze set to bring the 32-year-old back through the VFL for the first time in his career.
"I think that will probably be the plan," he said.
"He will hate me saying that, but we've got to be very cautious with what happened last year; I don't think he played any VFL games last year and we got the result we got. If it means he needs half a game at VFL level then we will do that.
"We need a fit Dion at AFL level. He is such an important player and leader for us. When he comes back we want him back for the rest of the season, not in and out."
After winning only two games in Yze's first season at Punt Road, Richmond already has three wins on the board and could move out of the bottom four with a win over North Melbourne on Sunday.
