West Coast coach Andrew McQualter says they are fearing the worst for veteran Jamie Cripps as the club awaits the results of scans on a potential career-ending knee injury.
Cripps went down in the last quarter of the Eagles’ WAFL loss to South Fremantle on Saturday after his left knee twisted, with the forward in instant pain on the turf.
The 34-year-old had to be carried off the ground and left the venue on crutches, with the club confirming he would go for scans.
It was already a make-or-break year for Cripps, who signed a one-year deal last year and had been dropped after the round six western derby defeat, having kicked only four goals in five games.
West Coast already have three players sidelined with season-ending injuries, having lost Noah Long to a knee injury in the pre-season, before star recruit Deven Robertson (ACL) and forward Jacob Newton (foot) went down early in the season.
McQualter said they had their fingers crossed the 2018 premiership star had avoided a serious injury but early signs weren’t good.
“It doesn’t look great. Really sad and disappointing for Crippa,” he said.
“He went down with a knee injury yesterday. Initial signs were we are probably fearing the worst but we’ve got to wait and get the outcome of those scans.
“Fingers crossed for Crippa that it’s not as bad as first feared.
“I won’t speculate too much but potentially a long-term knee injury is what the risk is. Obviously he was in a fair bit of pain and couldn’t get off the field by himself.”
Asked if it could be the end of Cripps’ career, McQualter said: “It’s too soon to speculate. I don’t think it’s fair to Crippa to even bring that up in the conversation at the moment.
“We’ll just deal with the facts of this injury at the moment and see where that comes in the next couple of days.”
Premiership teammate Tom Cole said the players hoped it wasn’t the worst case scenario for Cripps.
“Prayers up for Crippa. A club legend,” he told The West Australian.
“Obviously we haven’t found out the results of that yet, I am sure we’ll find out the results in the next few days but it didn’t look good but we don’t know. Fingers crossed for him.”
Cripps had struggled to break back into the AFL side after being dropped back to the WAFL for the first time since 2014, kicking only one goal from two games before the Bulldogs’ clash.
Earlier this year, Cripps revealed he’d hope to play into a 17th season and earn a contract for 2027.
“They’re keeping me feeling young with the excitement that they bring to training, it’s an exciting place to be at the moment, and hopefully I can stick around for a bit longer,” he told SEN.
The 277-game forward — who started his career at St Kilda — has booted 339 goals and is West Coast’s all-time leader in goal assists (188), sits third for tackles (1004) and sixth for goals with 323.