Richmond draftee Sam Cumming will be unavailable for at least the next four weeks following a shoulder injury he suffered in the AAMI Community Series match against Melbourne on Friday night.

Scans have confirmed that the 18-year-old had a subluxation of his right shoulder, a repeat of an injury he had in August last year.

While no further damage has occurred, the youngster will require a four-week strengthening period before being considered for a return to action.

“Sam had a shoulder injury in his draft year that was re-aggravated in Friday night’s game,” Richmond High Performance Manager, Ben Serpell said.

“We will take him out of contact drills for the next four weeks and get him to continue with his strength work across that time.

“Sam will have follow up scans as we go along and we will of course continually assess his shoulder stability, and we will decide our next steps from there which may include surgery. 

“Given he is a young player, our decision-making process will of course factor in the best thing for his entire career, not just this year.”