RICHMOND HOPEFUL DESPITE “FRUSTRATING” PRESTIA INJURYBy Andrew Slevison
SEN
25 March 2022Richmond assistant coach Adam Kingsley says the club remains hopeful regarding Dion Prestia.
The three-time premiership midfielder suffered a hamstring injury in last week’s season-opening loss to Carlton and is out of the line-up for Sunday’s Round 2 meeting with GWS.
It is yet another soft tissue issue for Prestia who has played just 19 matches since the beginning of the 2020 season, also dealing with a syndesmosis injury in that year.
The 2019 best and fairest is arguably the Tigers’ most important player, especially around the ball, and there remains confidence that the 29-year-old can have a major impact in 2022 and beyond.
“Dion’s had a couple of issues in the last couple of years,” Kingsley said on SEN Breakfast.
“He’s had a syndesmosis in his ankle and then a few hamstrings. We haven’t yet lost confidence in Dion, but just the inconsistent nature of missing a couple, coming back, playing a chunk, missing a couple. Last year was a bit disappointing. The whole shortened pre-season really compromised his preparation to be fair.
“We’re hoping that this is just a hamstring injury that’s quite incidental and then he can move on because he has had a really strong pre-season.
“He was the one guy that we thought was really going to jump back to where he’s been in the past. You could argue in the first quarter-and-a-half that he played (against Carlton) he was outstanding.
“It’s a frustrating one. We’d love to have Dion out there each and every game, but we haven’t this week and we’ll see what that means moving forward whether he can get back.
“It is minor so whether we’re cautious with it and make sure or whether we get him back in for round three, I’m not sure what the planning is.”
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2022/03/24/richmond-hopeful-despite-frustrating-prestia-injury/