Beloved veteran Darcy Gardiner has suffered a serious knee injury as a devastating run of injuries for the Brisbane Lions sunk to a new low in Sunday night’s clash with Gold Coast.
The Lions’ troubles started before the bounce when Brandon Starcevich was ruled out with a calf problem sustained in the warm-up.
Watch the video above: Devastating blow sinks Lions’ injury carnage to new low.
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That news brought Logan Morris onto the bench for his AFL debut — after already having played a full game in the VFL earlier in the day.
But rather than being held for a cameo at the end he was called into action almost immediately when Lincoln McCarthy went down with a knee injury.
Brisbane then went down to three on the bench when Noah Answerth copped a concussion from a knee to the head in a marking contest.
Less than 30 minutes later the Lions lost another, with Gardiner collapsing in a heap when his right knee gave way on the wing.
He was in obvious agony and cameras briefly cut away from the scene.
“The pictures are pretty graphic, they’re so graphic we’re not showing you. He is in a lot of pain,” Dwayne Russell said on Fox Sports.
Gardiner limped off with the help of two club medical officials.
He was making his seventh appearance of the season, three more than he made all of last year when the injury-hit defender was called up for the preliminary final and retained his place for the grand final.
McCarthy and Gardiner have both had their fair share of injury troubles, though the former’s move to Brisbane worked miracles for his health.
McCarthy played just 29 games for Geelong between 2012 and 2018 — with 19 coming in 2016 alone — but has been a regular for the Lions ever since his move north.
If both McCarthy and Gardiner have suffered ACL tears, Brisbane’s tally would move to four for the year after losing Keidean Coleman and Tom Doedee in March.
Will Ashcroft is still on the comeback trail from an ACL tear sustained in Round 19 last year.
On Sunday night, the Lions overcame the injury blows to kick out to an 8.8 (56) to 2.4 (16) lead at half-time.
Morris, the Lions’ second debutant of the night after Bruce Reville, kicked a behind early but marked his big occasion with a goal late in the second term.
Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale led from the front alongside former captain Dayne Zorko with 24 disposals apiece.
But it was Neale’s seven tackles that set the tone after the Lions were well beaten by the GWS Giants last week.
“It’s about time,” Neale said of Brisbane’s rising energy levels.
“Last week was horrific, especially as a midfield group. We got taught a lesson (by GWS) so good response but it’s only half-time and we’ve been in this position a few times already.”
