St Kilda are preparing for the rest of the 2011 season without inspirational midfielder Lenny Hayes with coach Ross Lyon indicating that the Norm Smith Medalist will require a knee reconstruction.
Hayes fell awkwardly in a contest for the ball in the third quarter of Friday's draw with Richmond at the MCG and was helped off the field and immediately substituted. He will have scans on his left knee over the weekend, but Lyon felt that the prognosis was not good.
"Obviously there's come collateral damage with Hayes. It doesn't look very good at all," Lyon said. "We will assess and really responsibly inform the market as soon as we can. There's nothing we want to hide here."
"It doesn't look great. Read between the lines. He's obviously a great leader and player for us."
Hayes' long-term absence would be a massive blow for the Saints, who have endured a horror time off the field since losing last year's Grand Final replay to Collingwood. Those woes appear to have infiltrated on the field, with St Kilda now winless in the first two rounds for the first time in 11 years.
Lyon said he felt that the Hayes incident, which occurred in the middle of the ground, had affected his players in the third quarter.
"When Hayes did his knee, we just seemed to lose some focus. We are a pretty tough mental group but I think it looked bad and it filtered through. From there we lifted a little," he said.
Lyon acted quickly post-game to address the possible loss of Hayes, citing how the club responded when Nick Riewoldt went down with a serious hamstring injury last season.
"Post-game I addressed it with the players. When Riewoldt went down (last year) I spoke about Hayes' response. Let's not wait a couple of weeks to get going this time," he said.
Lyon described parts of St Kilda's performance on Friday as 'embarrassing', particular with the way Richmond dominated the contested ball in the third quarter.
"The signs were horrible," he said. "We regrouped at three quarter time. I was pleased with our efforts in the last quarter to fight it out and show some really good spirit."
"I thought they would have been stiff to lose it in some respects. But I thought we were game to come back when they had full momentum and the Tiger roar happening in the background."
Despite the prospect that Hayes' experience will be lost to the team, Lyon indicated that several senior players were under pressure to keep their spots in the side after disappointing starts to the season.
"We've got some senior players out of form. If they don't change quick enough, we'll continue the bleed (the young players) in."