Young Tiger will seek treatment in another country for his horrific injury.
Josh Gibcus will travel to Qatar for hamstring surgery after missing the entire 2023 season.
After his 2023 career was ruined by a terrible hamstring injury, RICHMOND young gun Josh Gibcus is headed to Qatar to spend a week at an internationally recognized sports treatment practice.
The 20-year-old played 18 games in his debut season after being taken with the ninth choice in the 2021 AFL Draft, but he didn’t play this year after undergoing surgery in January to repair a hamstring tendon he injured during training.
Gibcus was expected to return in the first part of the season, but he experienced multiple wound infections, muscular atrophy, and nerve supply damage in the hamstring before being ruled out for the remainder of the season by the end of July.
Now, the highly regarded central defender will undergo intense rehabilitation at Doha’s Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital ahead of the start of a new era under Adem Yze during pre-season.
Gibcus will leave on Friday with Tigers physiotherapist Anthony Schache, who has worked for the Tigers for over 20 years and has a strong relationship with Aspetar, and will spend the week attempting to overcome the frustrating injury once and for all, returning with a plan to implement over the summer months.
Aspetar was founded in 2007 and is now generally regarded as a beacon of sports treatment, with worldwide football superstars Erling Haaland, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe all recovering from injuries at the world-class desert location.
The high performance department at Richmond dealt with a complex hamstring condition with Dylan Grimes more than a decade ago, but Gibcus’ hamstring ailment is said to be far more complicated than the problems the co-captain encountered early in his career.
Tigers physical performance manager Luke Meehan has spent recent months working with external experts from around the world to get to the bottom of an issue that has specialists stumped, finding only one athlete based in the United Kingdom who has faced something similar, highlighting the task the club faces.
The Tigers see Gibcus as a key plank in the club’s ambitions for the next decade and are determined to invest in the raw talent to get him back on the field, believing that this international mission will put the Victorian on the right track.
Gibcus is again jogging at up to 85% but will follow a carefully curated program before ball work is added, with the club hoping to gradually move him back into the main group in the new year ahead of a return.
West Coast has also made an investment in Aspetar, with Jeremy McGovern and Elliot Yeo among a group of Eagles due to spend time at the facility over the off-season break after a disastrous injury run.
Richmond is also hoping to re-sign standout forward Tom Lynch for the start of the 2024 season after he missed the first four games of the season due to a fractured foot suffered during a pre-season marred by a plantar fascia condition.
The 30-year-old is no longer in a moon boot, but he has struggled with bone troubles that have stymied his career.
The two-time Premier League champion will progressively increase his workload during the off-season and the first half of the pre-season before rejoining the main group after the Christmas break.
