was dropped the following week and did not return to senior football in 2017. Short's year did not end there however, as he joined Richmond's reserves side in their VFL finals run. This period included playing in three winning finals and in the club's losing grand final against Port Melbourne. The following week he was named as an emergency, but did not play, in Richmond's AFL Grand Final team. Short finished the season having played 16 matches at AFL level. 2018 season In the 2017/18 off-season, Short underwent shoulder surgery to repair the troublesome joint that had sustained minor injury in his first AFL match two years earlier. His experience during the procedure and in the early stages of recovery was recorded and later revealed in a documentary short film commissioned by the AFL Players Association entitled The Surgery. Though he would return to conditioning work within a month, the recovery process kept him from participating in contact drills into the start of the 2018 calendar year. Short spent that off-season training with the midfield group, with an eye to playing a dual role of half-back and wing in the coming season. Short returned to full fitness in time to play for Richmond's side at the Sydney AFLX tournament in February, before playing in each of the club's two pre-season matches. In round 1 he re-joined the club's best-22 after premiership defenders Bachar Houli and Nathan Broad missed due to injury and suspension respectively. Short impressed, holding a spot in the side even after Houli and Broad's return to availability. In round 6 he received a vote in the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year award after recording 20 disposals, eight intercepts and a game-high eight rebound-50s. To that point he ranked second at the club and 30th in the league for kicking efficiency (75.3 per cent) He also placed second at Richmond and behind only Dustin Martin for total metres gained in the first six matches of the year. Short was among Richmond's best in round 9's loss to , recording 14 disposals, 481 metres gained and adding two goals. Two weeks later he would post a then-career-high 28 disposals in the Dreamtime at the 'G match against . After that match coach Damien Hardwick flagged Short as "one of the most improved players in the competition" for his jump that season. He backed up that performance the