AFL 2023: Chad Wingard and Tyson Stengle sent to hospital, ban looms for Zach Merrett
Chad Wingard was subbed out of the Hawks clash with the Giants after a nasty injury to his tongue. Plus a Cat is in hospital and the Dons could have a date with the tribunal.
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Hawthorn small forward Chad Wingard is to have surgery to repair a lacerated tongue.
Wingard suffered the injury in the second quarter of the fighting loss to the GWS Giants at Norwood Oval on Sunday and was taken to hospital.
He will return to Melbourne on Monday for the surgery.
“I quickly saw him at half-time and gave him a cuddle,” Hawks coach Sam Mitchell said. “I’ve not heard of lacerated tongue surgery before, but it sounds horrible.
“I imagine it would not feel that great for Chad.”
Former teammate Shaun Burgoyne told Channel 7: “From what I gather he doesn’t wear a mouthguard”.
Wingard, 29, has suffered a frustrating start to the season. He played in round 1 and then missed three games with a calf injury before returning on Easter Monday against Geelong.
Wingard had three disposals against the Giants before he was ruled out of the match.
MRO SCRUTINY FOR SAINT AND PIE
St Kilda forward Anthony Caminiti faces a lengthy MRO ban over an off-the-ball incident that left Collingwood defender Nathan Murphy concussed as the Magpies’ big man woes deepened ahead of an Anzac Day showdown with a resurgent Essendon.
Magpies midfielder Taylor Adams could also come under MRO scrutiny for a tackle on St Kilda’s Seb Ross.
Adams slung Ross as he tackled him and the Pies will be sweating ahead of a huge clash with the Bombers.
It comes as Collingwood key forward and part-time ruckman Dan McStay is set for a period on the sidelines due to a tendon finger injury as the Magpies extricated themselves from Ross Lyon’s St Kilda “boa constrictor”.
The Saints stormed home in the final moments of the final match of Gather Round at the Adelaide Oval, but Collingwood held on gamely to win by six points.
Murphy was involved in a push and shove with Caminiti before the young Saint made contact with a forearm, leaving the Magpie dazed.
Collingwood coach Craig McRae said he didn’t see the incident but knew of Murphy’s frustration over the incident as words were exchanged on the boundary line.
“I haven’t seen the incident but he has obviously been concussed somehow and we will get to work on what that looked like,” McRae said of Murphy, who has had concussion issues in the past.
“I was on the bench when he came off and I am not sure what was said … The reality is he came off and said something, so he was obviously upset about something.
“I can’t comment on what I didn’t see (but) he has been ruled out as a concussion and he won’t play on Anzac Day.”
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon was unaware that Murphy had suffered a concussion.
When asked about it, Lyon said: “Really? That’s not good. If there is an incident and I haven’t seen that… but the processes will play out, I think both teams are just held accountable for every action out there.”
The Magpies are already without ruckmen Darcy Cameron and Mason Cox, as well as three-game big man Aiden Begg, but they will now have to find a replacement for McStay after his finger injury.
It means Nathan Kreuger will almost certainly be rushed back to help Billy Frampton in what looms as a critical battle against Essendon ruck pair Sam Draper and Andrew Phillips on Anzac Day.
Jordan De Goey, a late withdrawal from Sunday’s game against St Kilda due to gastro, is certain to return for Anzac Day.
McRae said of McStay’s injury: “Looks like he has done a tendon in the finger. We will get that scanned and assessed by the experts and we will find out what that looks like.
“It could be operational, most of them tend to be, but we might get lucky.”
The Magpies coach said it was a huge challenge to try to work through Ross Lyon’s defensive strategies, which made for a tight contest at Adelaide Oval.
“The ability to win it in a boa constrictor-type game … (was important),” he said. “It was hard to find any space on the ground in the way the game was defended. But just to find a way to win with a few different things not going our way was pleasing.”
He praised Darcy Moore’s leadership in a smaller defence and was pleased to see Jack Ginnivan get better as the game went on.
STAR CAT HOSPITALISED
Geelong’s Gather Round demolition of West Coast has come at a cost with premiership small forward Tyson Stengle subbed out and sent to hospital after suffering an arm injury.
Stengle had already kicked a goal and had six disposals in the Cats’ 14-goal first half when he was trapped in a tackle by Eagle Josh Rotham during the second term.
His left arm was trapped underneath him in the tackle and he winced in pain as soon as he emerged from the contest.
Stengle was taken from the field and immediately sent up the race for assessment before being subbed out of the game.
He was taken off in an ambulance before the game had ended.
Rotham’s tackle and another from Rhys Stanley on young Eagles Reuben Ginbey will be assessed by the MRO.
Tyson Stengle has left the field following this incident.#GatherRound#AFLCatsEaglespic.twitter.com/zhsSF6nI3j
— AFL (@AFL) April 16, 2023
ANZAC DAY BAN LOOMS FOR STAR BOMBER
- Jay Clark
Essendon will strongly consider challenging Zach Merrett’s one-match suspension to clear the superstar captain to play Collingwood on Anzac Day.
Merrett, 27, on Sunday was banned for tackling young Demon Tom Sparrow head-first into the ground late in the Bombers’ shock win over Melbourne.
But the Bombers were weighing up taking the incident to the tribunal in a bid to free their best player to take on the Magpies next Tuesday at the MCG.
Merrett has been in superb form this season and would be a huge loss to Brad Scott’s men if he is rubbed out for the dangerous tackle on Sparrow in Adelaide.
Young Bomber Ben Hobbs, who has started the season in the VFL, could replace Merrett unless he is successful in his appeal at the tribunal.
Match review officer Michael Christian graded Merrett’s tackle along the same lines as Gary Rohan’s one-match ban on Easter Monday, saying it was careless conduct, high contact and medium impact.
Merrett tackled Sparrow around the torso and tipped the Demons’ hard-nut head-first into the ground. Sparrow was uninjured in the tackle, and played on.
However, the AFL wants to stamp out these sorts of dangerous tackles and has made a clear statement through the match review office that it wants to protect players’ heads.
Richmond’s Nathan Broad was suspended for four matches for his tackle on Crow Patrick Parnell, Hawk Will Day was rubbed out for two matches for dumping Brad Close and Rohan received one match for his sling tackle on Changkuoth Jiath.
But two players, Carlton’s Harry McKay and Richmond’s Tom Lynch, both had success at the tribunal last week challenging head-high hit incidents.
Christian may also look at West Coast’s Josh Rotham for his tackle which hurt the wrist of Cats’ forward Tyson Stengle on Sunday in Geelong’s big win over the Eagles.
But former Adelaide superstar Mark Ricciuto said he sympathized with tacklers in modern day footy, saying it was hard to bring down big players without using angle and force.
“As the tackler, you are not trying to hurt them by doing it,” Ricciuto said on Fox Footy.
“I totally get that you have got to save the head.
“But it is very hard as the tackler to bring down big strong players and get them holding the ball.”
Merrett, who is a three-time best and fairest-winner and dual All-Australian, was outstanding in the win over the Demons gathering 35 disposals, 14 contested possessions and seven tackles, continuing his red-hot season.
The skipper has averaged 30 possessions a game after setting himself over the preseason to become the best defensive player at the club this season, rounding out his brilliant overall game.
POSITIVE INJURY VERDICT FOR ROOS MIDFIELDER
— Jon Ralph
North Melbourne is hopeful co-captain Jy Simpkin could miss only a fortnight of action despite surgery on Monday for a fracture to his hand.
Simpkin was unsure how he suffered the injury that saw him subbed out of the Roos heavy loss to Brisbane at half time.
The Roos were on Sunday determining whether the injury was to the very base of his finger or the metatarsal bone in his hand but believe he might miss only one or two weeks.
The Roos were badly exposed without their star playmaker and overwhelmed by the Lions ball movement in a game where they coughed up 33 inside 50 marks.
The club’s high press badly broke down as the Lions continually scored goals over the back in a 75-point loss.
No.4 pick George Wardlaw will not be ready to replace Simpkin after being rested from the VFL on the weekend with general soreness.
The Roos were keen to manage his workload this weekend or next and with a full-club trip to the Gold Coast coming up next weekend decided to give him an early spell.
The AFL team takes on Gold Coast on Saturday at 4.10pm and the VFL side plays the Suns on Sunday so the entire club will fly north for the contests.
The club’s emerging star Harry Sheezel copped a knock to the thumb and a corked leg but played on to amass another classy 31-possession performance.
The Roos will be desperate to put in an improved display against the 1-4 Lions given a dispiriting display after such a strong performance the previous week in a Good Friday clash against Carlton.
“Where Brisbane are now is where we want to be and where they were four or five years ago is probably where we are now,” coach Alastair Clarkson said.
“We know the path we’re on. By and large we’ve been pretty competitive, but we came up against a really good unit today.”
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Originally published as AFL 2023: Chad Wingard and Tyson Stengle sent to hospital, ban looms for Zach Merrett
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