Injury-hit Tigers hope Rioli has avoided serious injury

Tigers' Maurice Rioli Jnr being taken off the MCG after suffering his injury against the Bulldogs. (Rob Prezioso/AAP PHOTOS)

Richmond are hopeful Maurice Rioli Jr has avoided serious injury after he twisted an ankle in a tackle and was one of two players taken off the field on a medicab during a horror loss to the Western Bulldogs.

Teammate Sam Banks was also driven off the ground after he was concussed during Friday night's one-sided contest and Jack Graham re-injured his troublesome hamstring.

Rioli was caught in possession by Adam Treloar during the dying stages and hurt his left ankle in a gruesome incident.

Sam Banks
Sam Banks also suffered injury for the Tigers after a collision.

The 21-year-old Tigers forward was left writhing in pain on the turf as medical staff rushed to his aid.

"We're hoping it's just a rolled ankle but whenever there's a rolled ankle it could be syndesmosis," Richmond coach Adem Yze said after his side's 19.19 (133) to 6.6 (42) defeat.

"But we'll just wait for the scan on that.

"He was trying so hard in that last quarter too.

"We gave him a bit of midfield exposure, which was nice, but then to see him get injured ... we've got a few sore boys there."

Inexperienced midfielder Banks was knocked out after hitting his head on the turf in a scary landing from a third-quarter marking contest.

Dogs ruckman Tim English accidentally took the 21-year-old's legs from underneath him after being pushed into the contest by Noah Balta.

Play was held up for several minutes while medical staff assessed Banks, who was awake and alert in the change room soon afterwards.

Graham, who returned from a one-week lay-off with a hamstring injury, had been substituted out of the game a few minutes earlier after re-injuring the same muscle.

"Banksy's up and about now. He was concussed so he'll go into the protocols," Yze said.

"Jack Graham just felt tight in a hammy, the same hammy, so we didn't want to take any risks with that.

"But we'll have to bite the bullet and he'll be out for a week or two."

Richmond have been smashed by injuries in Yze's first season at the helm, with Jacob Hopper, Tim Taranto, Tom Lynch and Josh Gibcus all among the stars sidelined.

Dion Prestia and Noah Balta returned from injuries against the Bulldogs and impressed Yze, but were part of a team that was comprehensively outplayed.

The Dogs had 116 more disposals than their opponents and also won the tackle count (55-46), while dominating inside-50s (77-41) and having more than three times as many scoring shots as the Tigers.

"If it was around effort and intent then you would be a little bit worried but I can never doubt that with our players," Yze said.

"I can't fault that. I can see some frustration with our execution; I just don't want that to dent our spirit."

Richmond's 91-point hammering was the heaviest margin felt by any side this season and was their fifth straight defeat, leaving them in 17th spot with a 1-8 record.

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