The first season for new Richmond coach Adem Yze has gone from bad to worse as he deals with injuries and rumours of Dustin Martin wanting to retire.
The Tigers confirmed Taranto, the reigning club best and fairest who hadn’t missed a game since joining the Tigers from GWS in 2023, would need surgery and could miss “an extended period” after injuring wrist during a training session.
Richmond football boss, Tim Livingstone said the club would have a clearer picture of the injury’s timeline after today’s surgery.
“We are incredibly disappointed for Tim that he will miss some football, but we know the professional he is. He will keep himself fit and strong and return as quickly as he can,” Livingstone said.
“It was an unlucky incident right at the end of today’s session. He will have it operated on immediately, and we will see where everything is at after that.”
Yet-to-debut youngster Steely Green has been added to the squad of 26.
The news on Taranto came just hours after Richmond confirmed fellow midfielder Jack Ross would miss about eight weeks with a foot stress fracture.
Ross, 23, has been on the fringes at Richmond and was the substitute in round one, but had played the Tigers’ past four games in the midfield, averaging 23.5 disposals per match.
He will be replaced by Liam Baker, who returns from suspension against the Eagles at Optus Stadium.
Yze said Ross, 23, would need surgery, creating a further midfield hole in the wake of injuries to Jacob Hopper and Dion Prestia.
“He’ll go in for surgery and I think it’s going to keep him out for around eight weeks, which is really disappointing for him,” Yze said.
“He was in really good form – he started to get some continuity as a midfielder for us, and he had an interrupted season last year as well.
“We’ll wrap our arms around him and help him through it.”
Kane McAuliffe could start in place of Ross against West Coast after he had four disposals and three tackles in a brief substitute cameo on debut last week.
The Tigers have been devastated by injuries in Yze’s first season as coach, losing Josh Gibcus for the season, Tom Lynch (hamstring) for up to three months and Noah Balta (knee) for about six weeks as well as Prestia, Hopper and Dylan Grimes during the 1-4 start to the season.
Yze was also quick to hose down reports that three-time premiership star Martin, 32, who has been dealing with a calf niggle, was pondering an early retirement despite being on the verge of reaching 300 games.
“We don’t deal with rumours and things like that,” Yze said.
“For us our responsibility is to make sure Dusty’s happy, and I’ve said that from day one.
“We want an environment that can allow him to enjoy his footy, enjoy coming into the club every day and hopefully prolong his career.
“So those sorts of things are external, we don’t really worry about, but he came in and played like Dusty (against St Kilda), and that was the main thing.”