Richmond High Performance Manager Ben Serpell has provided an injury update, following last Friday’s match simulation.

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First-year Tigers Josh Smillie and Jasper Alger both came from the field during the hit-out, which was participated in by excellent numbers.

Smillie will enter a rehabilitation phase, due to a minor hamstring issue, while Alger will return to full training in the very near future.

“Josh has come to the Club and had a sporadic load over the last little while, which is typical of most first years,” Serpell said.

“Because of that (and his minor hamstring issue) we have decided to take a conservative approach with him and give him some consistent training.

“We still expect him to be around the mark for the early parts of the season, hopefully by trial (game) time.”

Richmond will face West Coast in Match Simulation in Perth on February 17 before a practice match against Collingwood on February 26 for the Charity Shield.

Jasper Alger remains in contention for those games, following a hyper-extension to his knee.

“Jasper hyper-extended his knee in match play last week. He got a little bit spooked, but the scans came back positively,” Serpell said.

“He will train a little bit later this week and there is a chance he will get out for match play (on Friday).

“But if not this week, it is going to be next week (that he returns to partaking in match play).”

Serpell also gave an update on Josh Gibcus, who will not be available for the early rounds of the season.

“Josh in 2023 underwent surgery to repair his hamstring after a significant strain, which was backed up by his ACL injury last year,” he said.

“So, he has had two traumatic injuries season on season, which is why what we decided to do is take a conservative approach with him.

“Josh is a long-term prospect and as we have said all along, we want to look after him. I think all Richmond fans would agree that once he is back, we want him to stay in the team instead of being in rehab again.

“He went a bit slower through the early stages of his rehab than we would have liked, but we cannot do anything about that because everyone’s body responds in different ways.

“So, he is still a long-term injury prospect, but is tracking quite well otherwise.

“We are unlikely to see Josh in the early rounds. And as I have said earlier- Judson Clarke is the one leading the way among the ACL guys and he is looking at coming back around April.”