Western Bulldogs’ Luke Cleary has been taken from Marvel Stadium on a medicab after a shocking collision late in his side’s clash with North Melbourne.
The 23-year-old won the ball but was knocked out instantly after being crunched between Kangaroos pair Jackson Archer and Jacob Konstanty.
Cleary had been struck on the head by Archer’s knee and immediate concerns were raised for the eight-gamer.
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He was quickly spotted moving his head but doctors and physios took the usual precautions to protect a potential neck injury.
“There is a real silence over the stadium, quite eerie,” Ruby Schleicher said on Fox Sports.
“You just hate seeing contests like that, and nothing in it from either side — Archer’s not going to pull out of one of those and Luke Cleary just all head for the ball. You just hope he’s OK.”
Cleary was shifted onto a stretcher and lifted onto the medicab, with his teammates all rushing to support him as the crowd offered a standing ovation.
The Bulldogs later confirmed he was taken to hospital.
After the long delay both sets of players shook off the incident to finish the remaining seven minutes of the match.
“He looked in not a great way. Hopefully he’s alright, we’ll get around him (over the) next week,” midfielder Ed Richards said after the Dogs held on for a 17.11 (113) to 14.13 (97) victory.
“Pretty scary stuff towards the end but hopefully he’s OK.”
The Bulldogs were missing captain Marcus Bontempelli through a calf injury as well as Adam Treloar (calf), Cody Weightman (knee) and Liam Jones (hamstring).
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is also currently unavailable for selection after spending time away from the club for personal reasons.
The Dogs watched a five-goal lead disappear in the second quarter and were never able to kick away from North in the second half.
“A lot of people wrote us off when Bont went down,” Richards said after helping cover for Bontempelli with 30 disposals and a goal.
“It’s good we were able to stand up and show people that we’ve got good depth, we’ve got some good young talent and we’re ready to go this year.”
Bailey Dale (29 touches, two goals), stand-in skipper Tom Liberatore and recruit Matt Kennedy were all busy.
Laitham Vandermeer and Aaron Naughton (three goals apiece) hit the scoreboard along with Ryley Sanders and Lachie McNeil (both two).
Kangaroos spearhead Nick Larkey kicked five goals after coming into the game under an injury cloud.
North big man Tristan Xerri (51 hitouts) dominated the ruck against Tim English and Sam Darcy to give first use to Tom Powell (27 touches), Harry Sheezel (31) and Jy Simpkin (30).
Cameron Zurhaar kicked 1.4 in a frustrating day in front of goal while Paul Curtis booted three.
Bulldogs defender James O’Donnell was forced off with a jaw issue in the third term after a collision with Curtis.
North recruit Caleb Daniel gifted his former club the opening goal when his poor centring kick was intercepted by Naughton who handballed to Richards to unleash a long left-footed bomb.
The Bulldogs face Collingwood next Friday night in a rare MCG home game while the Kangaroos host Melbourne next Sunday.
– with AAP