News

In what was a dirty day for the Bombers, Skipworth ruptured the patella tendon in his left knee early in the first quarter of Bendigo's 15.14 (104) to 9.10 (64) loss to Port Melbourne at TEAC Oval.

The injury to the 24-year-old occurred when he landed awkwardly after being involved in a marking contest.

Skipworth was operated on last night, and the Bombers will learn more on the extent of the injury to the classy midfielder today.

"I spent an hour with Hayden last night and he is really shattered and distraught about the whole situation," Bombers coach Matthew Knights said yesterday.

"When one of your key players and leaders goes down it certainly takes the sting out of the group a bit.

"You would say with a ruptured patella tendon it's at least going to be a 12 to 16-week injury, but it could be up to six months.

"It looks highly doubtful he will play again this year."

Skipworth joined the Bombers during the pre-season after playing 44 AFL games with the Adelaide Crows.

"He has come across from Adelaide to make a fresh start, to play great footy with the Bendigo Bombers, play in a successful team, and maybe give himself another shot at AFL footy," Knights said.

"I have spoken to him about staying positive, and you never know what could happen down the track.

"He's doing his best to remain positive, but it really was a sad day for us on Saturday when someone of the quality of Skipworth goes down with an injury like that."

After missing round one against Tasmania because of an ankle injury, Skipworth had been in the Bombers' best players in each of the first two games he had played against the Northern Bullants and Sandringham. As well as the injury to Skipworth, key defender James Flaherty was concussed early in the game, Leroy Jetta and Adam Ramanauskas both suffered groin complaints, while former captain Nick Carter (calf) and Justin Maddern (flexor strain) were also unable to get through

the game unscathed and are in doubt for this Sunday's crucial clash with Williamstown.

The Bombers didn't have a bench after half-time, with Carter and Maddern forced to play the second half under duress.

"For the last quarter Carter, Maddern and Jarrod Atkinson all played deep within 15metres of goal because two of them had strains and the other boy (Atkinson) was struggling with another ailment," Knights said.

"We had to play them as deep as possible because none of them had too much run in them, so it was full credit to Carter and Maddern that they played the game out under severe difficulty."

As well as the injuries to the key players, the Bombers also have Tom Hislop (charging) and Richard Cole (engaging in rough play) on report.