Richmond can confirm that youngster Sam Lalor will be ruled out for the remainder of the season following the hamstring injury he sustained on the weekend in Geelong.

Lalor re-injured his left hamstring in the opening minutes of Saturday’s match, in what was his first game back in the lineup since Dreamtime at the ‘G on May 23.

“We are all devastated for the young man, and I am sure our fans are too,” Richmond High-Performance Manager Ben Serpell said.

“After a strong, meticulous rehab, unfortunately, he did re-injure his hamstring. It is his third time on that hamstring and the second (occasion) with us.”

Lalor had trained strongly in the six weeks leading up to his return, hitting strong GPS numbers on the training track and all his strength markers in the gym.

He then suffered what Serpell described as a very different hamstring injury to his prior injury.

“The injury mechanism here for Sam this time was very different to his original injury mechanism,” Serpell said.

“He sustained the injury in a tackle. I think anyone who throws their body at the game (in the same way) as he did, and credit to him for doing that, is going to put their body at some risk irrespective of their injury history.”

Serpell said that the Club would explore surgical options to strengthen the structure of Lalor’s hamstring.

“We are a bit concerned about the integrity of the hamstring structure,” he said.

“As part of that we will consult a few surgeons over the next little while to see if there is some surgical intervention available for us.”

Richmond will provide a further injury report on Lalor’s rehabilitation program when available.