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Richmond veteran Nathan Broad was dazzled by an ‘awesome’ photo of cult hero Mykelti Lefau tuning in to watch their win over Adelaide immediately after surgery.
Lefau became the Tigers’ fifth ACL casualty of the season when he went down last week and finally went under the knife Thursday.
WATCH ABOVE: Nathan Broad blindsided by Mykelti Lefau’s hospital photo.
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Fresh from the operating room, the 25-year-old quickly settled in to watch his team-mates triumph for only the second time this season.
During the game, Richmond shared a photo of LeFau in a hospital bed with the game on the TV in front of him.
However, Broad was unaware of the situation until he was shown the image during a post-match interview on Channel 7.
“Oh, I haven’t seen that. This is great,” he said.
“He’s an absolute ripper, Kelty. He’s just so invested in this football club.
“Nobody should ever have to take a knee, unfortunately we have five of them so it’s heartbreaking. But he will be back, no doubt.
Broad said Lefau, a former NRL hopeful with the Melbourne Storm, “fooled us all” when he walked around on his injured knee last week.
“He was sitting in the back row of the team meeting and going down the stairs,” Broad continued.
“We’re all ‘oh yeah, he didn’t do his knee, he fooled us all.’
“He had done his ACL and that’s all down to him. He didn’t put the spotlight on, he left it. Just a great club player.”
Despite Lefau’s hit, Richmond’s injury woes eased somewhat this week as Shai Bolton, Tim Taranto and Dion Prestia returned for the win.
Dustin Martin was given Thursday night off to ensure he plays his 300th AFL game at the MCG next weekend.
Curiously, Martin has now missed both of the Tigers’ two wins this year.
Richmond coach Adem Izeh said their performance was a reward for the effort, but especially for the 10 young players with less than 50 games of experience.
“We are still a young team. We got some players back, which obviously helped, but we feel like our young players are still growing,” he said.
“And the silver lining in that – Samson Ryan, Seth Campbell, Tyler Sonsey, Tom Brown, all these young players are getting opportunities and just growing up before our eyes.
“It was just nice to see them get rewarded with a win.”
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