Following his third VFL game, Jack Higgins was found to have a brain bleed and will miss the remainder of the 2019 season.
The issue is not the result of a knock and was an abnormality that had gone undetected thus far.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick confirmed with media that he will be healthy for the 2020 season and the injury is not the result of dangerous contact.
"Without being a medico by nature, he has had an abnormality since birth, which has reared its head. It's a chance to pop up its head between the ages of 10 and 30, so obviously Jack falls into that time frame," Hardwick said.
"He's got a group of blood vessels that aren't strong and naturally bleed. Obviously, he's had a bigger bleed that's caused the issue. He won't play again this year.
"In 4-6 weeks he'll have another scan once the blood has subsided, then he'll probably have a procedure to rectify the result.
"He'll play footy again, which is really exciting for us and great for Jack. We're rapt. Our medicos did a terrific job detecting it and sending for scans. Now we know the solution, we just have to be patient and wait till that occurs."