Last month I went into detail about how important Trent West’s recruitment had been for the Club – so it goes without saying that his absence with a long-term knee injury is going to leave a huge hole to fill.

I’m gutted for the guy, not just because he’s a great bloke, but because he’d taken ownership of the ruck position at the Lions and was really starting to show what a terrific player he could be.

If the Merrett-Murray Medal votes had been drawn before the Carlton game, I’d suggest his name would have appeared comfortably in the Top Five. 

Injuries are part of the game and the certainly haven’t been kind to us so far this season. Westy’s just the latest in a long line of players set to spend an extended period on the sidelines.

It’s an old saying in football, but every injury creates an opportunity for someone else to step-up – and Stefan Martin certainly did that against the Dogs.

Before Saturday night, Stef had only played one senior match and a handful of NEAFL games over the past 12 months as he dealt with his own injury concerns.

And going up against the reigning All Australian ruckman in Will Minson was always going to be a big ask. But Stef hardly put a foot wrong.

Not only did he probably break even with Minson in the hitouts, but he was really valuable around the ground.

A bit like Westy, Stef is determined to make the most of his opportunities and will get to go head-to-head against some of the competition’s best in Shane Mumford, Aaron Sandilands and Todd Goldstein over the next few weeks.

Clubs generally don’t hold a lot of ruckmen on their list – maybe 4 or 5 – so when you lose a couple to long-term injuries, it tends to make quite an impact.

Thankfully we still have a seasoned campaigner such as Stef who’s fit and firing, and then there are younger blokes like Archie Smith and Sam Michael waiting in the wings.

But it’s at times like these that you wonder whether the AFL would ever consider introducing a mid-season Draft at some stage in the future.

It’s something that’s common among sports in the US, but hasn’t quite taken off in our game as yet.

The concept could allow clubs to recruit a player from one of the local competitions midway through the season to replace a long-term injured player – similar to how they do rookie elevations. 

For instance, if it existed today, we could potentially scour the countryside and find a ready-made ruckman from the VFL, SANFL, WAFL, or NEAFL and bring them in as added insurance.

It would benefit not only the Club itself, but also the recruited player who would most likely jump at the opportunity to play AFL.

However, I can see how it might cause some logistical problems.

I imagine the main concern would be how it would affect these second-tier teams, who could lose a key player or two without much notice or compensation.  

Then there’s the issue of trying to train and teach the recruited player in a week, what most of us AFL players have learned over an entire six-month pre-season.

Fortunately we’re not in desperation stages just yet.

Plus I’m hoping it won’t be too much longer – maybe a few more weeks – before I’m back out there with the boys.