Richmond have confirmed Aotearoa-born, Pasifika forward Mykelti Lefau will miss the bulk of the season's remaining rounds with a calf injury suffered in his return match at the weekend.

Lefau, 27, was subbed out of the Tigers' 68-point loss to Adelaide at the MCG on Sunday during the second quarter.

It was his first AFL appearance after 393 days after an ACL injury finished his debut season at round 12 last year.

The rugby-league convert had presented as a glimmer of hope and strong bodied forward target in the first half of the year.

On Monday night, reports emerged Lefau was due to spend a lengthy stint of the remaining weeks with the latest setback.

Richmond confirmed the cruel blow on Tuesday, outlining an expected four-to-six week return road.

"Sadly, for Mykelti, he sustained a calf injury in the second quarter, and he was subbed out of the game," Richmond high performance manager Ben Serpell said.

"He had scans conducted yesterday, and we are probably looking at four to six games he's going to miss out."

Lefau's removal only dampened an already tough afternoon for Punt Road faithful.

Richmond were handed their third consecutive 40-plus point loss by the Crows in a season resulting in just three wins, their last over West Coast in round nine.

Post-match, coach Adem Yze said his side "broke down in a lot of the areas that we knew Adelaide are good at", with particular mention of losses at stoppages and in the aerial contest.

"Really frustrating, and our players are frustrated and disappointed"

Yze affirmed his side haven't thrown the cue in the rack for 2025, but they came up against a "a really good footy team" at the weekend.

The day was marred by an ugly incident involving Tom Lynch, who was referred directly to the tribunal on Monday for striking Jordon Butts off the ball - something Yze claimed was purely out of frustration, stating the tall had apologies to his teammate for it. Lynch was suspended for five weeks.

When it comes to the marking contests, Lefau's early exit didn't help the cause, Yze said.

"Mykelti going out of the game is almost like a perfect storm. We lost a guy that's going to give us a contest for the ball," the former Demon forward said.

Yze said in groundside chats with Lefau, the forward said the muscle strain was an unfamiliar injury.

"He thought he cramped, but he knew that that was way too early to cramp. He's such a fit man. So it was really disappointing.

"Not only disappointing for today, but the amount of work that he's put in, and the body of work he did over the last month that put himself in a position to get pretty much straight back in."

Lefau played five VFL games before slotting back into the Tigers' senior side.

"It showed how important he is to us, in that battle, in that aerial battle, when he did go out of the game, because we did miss him," Yze said.