Beloved veteran Darcy Gardiner has suffered a serious knee injury as a devastating run of injuries for Brisbane sunk to a new low before the Lions held on for a gutsy 34-point win over Gold Coast on Sunday night.
Their troubles started before the bounce when Brandon Starcevich was ruled out with a calf problem sustained in the warm-up at the Gabba.
Watch the video above: Devastating blow sinks Lions’ injury carnage to new low.
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That setback brought Logan Morris into the sub role 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 and held on for a 10.19 (79) to 6.9 (45) victory over the disappointing Suns.
“Coming into the game we weren’t in the best form and to lose four players (to injury) throughout the night … the boys really digging deep tonight was an unbelievable effort,” said Dayne Zorko, who won the Marcus Ashcroft Medal as best on ground.
“We wanted to do it for the guys who were on the sideline. Those guys came down and really supported us while they were on the bench, which was great.
“Our brotherhood’s been sensational and that’s something we can really hang our hat on tonight.”
Morris, Brisbane’s 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.
“He was probably stiff not to be playing this week but it was awesome to see him kick a goal,” Josh Dunkley said.
“He’s brought a lot of energy to our group, so has Brucey Reville. Both showed a lot so an exciting future for our club.”
Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale led from the front alongside Zorko with 24 disposals apiece to half-time.
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.”
The Lions’ bench was reduced to zero fit players late in the third quarter when Reville and Charlie Cameron spent time off the field with injuries, though both returned for the start of the final term.