Richmond have suffered a major blow ahead of their AFL clash with Hawthorn, with superstar Dustin Martin to miss out with bruised ribs.

Martin has been incredibly durable over the course of his decorated career, with Thursday night’s clash at the MCG to be just the eighth AFL game he has missed in 10 years.

Since making his AFL debut in round one of the 2010 season, Martin has played 226 of the Tigers’ 233 matches and has not played less than 20 games in a season.

It is understood the 2017 Brownlow medallist suffered a knock during an intra-club match ahead of round two but was able to play in the draw against Collingwood, gathering 20 possessions.

Martin will be assessed for what the club described as ‘minor bruising’ during the week and is expected to feature against St Kilda in round four.

Liam Baker is also out after he was granted permission to attend a family funeral in Western Australia.

Josh Caddy and Jack Ross have been included.

The Hawks welcome back Jaeger O’Meara, with the star midfielder given the all-clear to resume after suffering a facial fracture in a training mishap.

His return will add some class to a midfield that was outplayed in a 61-point thrashing by Geelong last Friday.

“We’re excited to bring Jaeger back into the side as we look to redeem last week’s performance,” Hawks footy boss Graham Wright said.

“The short, six-day break between games has helped us and the boys are really hungry to put in a strong effort this week.”

Harry Morrison was dropped to make way for the return of the former Gold Coast star.