Skipton's CHFL finals campaign will continue without Bailey McKimmie, with the key forward confirmed as the Emus' latest player to fall victim to a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
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Skipton joint coach Sam Willian has confirmed the injury, which will sideline McKimmie well into next season.
McKimmie suffered the injury in the closing minutes of the Emus emphatic win over Waubra in an elimination final on Saturday after what Willian described as a best-on-ground performance with six goals.
Willian said the initial thoughts were that McKimmie had damaged the ACL, but they continued to hope for the best until the diagnosis was confirmed.
McKimmie continues what has been an ACL "curse" for Skipton full forwards this season.
He joins Jethro Kirby, Lachlan Wilkie and Jack Peeters who have all been sidelined with ACL injuries.
Willian said it had been shattering to see the impact the injury had on McKimmie, as well as the rest of the player group.
"It certainly took some gloss off the win."
Willian said both the setbacks and manner in which the Emus had defeated Waubra had had a galvanising effect on the players.
"Every time someone goes down, someone else stands up."
He said everyone was enjoying the journey. "It's really positive to be here."
McKimmie's injury is part of what has been a roller coaster ride for Skipton over the past week, with the win over Waubra being their finals victory in the CHFL and Willian taking out the CHFL best and fairest on Wednesday night providing highs.
Skipton has promoted under-18 player Lachie Wills for his fifth senior appearance this season to face Springbank in a knock-out semi-final at Waubra on Saturday.
Last time they met in round 15, Springbank took the honours by four points at Skipton. That result secured the Tigers a place in the top four and denied Skipton the same opportunity.
Willian said they had identified a few things from the last term of that game that they had worked on.
"Our best footy is good enough to beat anyone."
Even though they did enough to get the points last time against Springbank, Tigers coach Andrew Challis has no doubt they stack up much stronger this time around.
They were missing the likes of number one ruckman Pat Glanford (which forced big defender Isaac Pertzel to ruck), Chris Quinlan and key defender Justin Simpson, who returns for the first time since round 13, and also suffered a few injuries on the day.
Challis sees Simpson's return as a big plus. As well as giving Springbank more solidity in defence, his return allows the midfield to run much deeper.
He believes they lacked that extra big defender late in the qualifying final loss to Gordon.
"We didn't do much wrong (against Gordon). We were probably a little too conservative." He said it would be all about being aggressive, putting pressure on the ball users, spreading and playing smarter in attack.
