Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge is hopeful that defender Hayden Crozier experienced nothing more than “light-headedness” when he dramatically fainted in the rooms at halftime of their 12-point loss to Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night.
Crozier had to be subbed out of the game as a result of the incident, which brought back scary memories of former Port Adelaide player Nathan Eagleton and ex-St Kilda defender Dylan Roberton, who both collapsed while out on the field in 1999 and 2018 respectively.
However, in a positive sign for Crozier, who appeared to be given oxygen by paramedics, the Bulldogs medical staff think he is OK and he will be monitored by them overnight.
“He just fainted,” Beveridge said.
“We’re all concerned about him … not sure about the reason why but just got light-headed and fainted – the old-fashioned fainted.
“So obviously straight away you make sure that he‘s looked after and I think he’s in good hands.”
Crozier wasn‘t the only injury concern for the Bulldogs, with star forward Aaron Naughton playing with a badly corked calf in the final quarter.
“I thought he might‘ve been out for the game but it was one of those corks that you get when you haven’t got the muscle flexed, so it gets in really deep,” Beveridge said.
“He was able to run and we’ve just got to make sure it doesn’t bleed too much and hopefully he’ll be right next week.”
Beveridge is also hopeful that star midfielder Bailey Smith will be available to face the Swans after he sat out Thursday night‘s game with a hip flexor issue sustained at training.
“He just pulled up a little bit marginal after our main session late,” Beveridge said.
“He was just tight in the hip flexor and our staff thought it was best that he miss (the Carlton game), including him, so hopefully he comes up.”
Smith’s absence was felt in the middle of the ground as the Bulldogs got obliterated in the contested possessions for the second week in a row by the Blues. Eight days after finishing 20 down in that category against Melbourne, the Dogs plummeted to new depths against Carlton, losing the stat by a whopping 36.
“It‘s always a concern when you get beaten in that area,” Beveridge said.
“We‘ve got to get better at that, inside and out. It’s two weeks in a row where we’ve been done. We’ve played two rxjmtzyweally good sides who we’ve lowered our colours to, but we’re going to come.”
After trailing by 37 points late in the first half, the Bulldogs came back into the game but were let down by some poor goalkicking, especially missed set shots in the third and fourth quarters. Beveridge said they would continue working on that skill at training during the week.
“It‘s not like we don’t put enough time into it, and it’s a shame,” he said.
“A lot of those shots in the last quarter were from a fair way out which isn‘t ideal – there’s no doubt they were gettable.
“We needed to kick a few of those. I think it was probably one or two of the ones in the third quarter that were really costly when we were really coming and one hit the post and we missed another one at close range just to get within a sniff of a goal would’ve been ideal, but it wasn’t to be.”
Meanwhile, Beveridge said with a laugh that he hoped Sydney champion Lance Franklin kicked the four goals he needed to reach 1000 career goals on Friday night against Geelong before playing his Bulldogs next week.
“Always want the best for Lance, so it would be nice to get it out of the way before they play us,” he said.
