Big Tiger is still in club's finals pictureafl.com.au
25 July 2017RICHMOND is confident tall forward Ben Griffiths will avoid surgery on his dislocated right shoulder, but it is not yet clear if he will return in time for the Tigers' looming finals campaign.
Griffiths, who suffered the injury in the VFL at the weekend, was due to meet his surgeon on Tuesday afternoon.
Club doctors were understood to be confident a period of rehabilitation would be enough for the shoulder to stabilise, but a timeline for his return is not expected this week.
Surgery for a shoulder dislocation can sideline a player for between three and four months, but the timeline can be significantly reduced if surgery is avoided.
Griffiths suffered the setback in his opening minutes of game time against Collingwood in the VFL on Sunday when attempting to tackle an opponent at the start of the second quarter.
It was his second game back from a two-and-a-half month lay-off as he recovered from a run of concussions that have kept him to just two senior games this season.
The 25-year-old booted two goals the week prior in his VFL return and had started to enter calculations for an AFL comeback in the Tigers' run to finals.
Richmond has turned to Todd Elton and rookie Ivan Soldo at various stages as support for forward Jack Riewoldt and ruckman Toby Nankervis this season.
The match committee has also played a small forward line with some success while anticipating Griffiths' return later in the year.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-07-25/big-tiger-is-still-in-clubs-finals-picture
