Darcel Snowden cleared of serious injury, believed to have sustained bruising to lumbar spine area

The diagnosis for an injured player at the centre of Wednesday’s Langer Trophy call off is in, and luckily it isn’t the worst that was feared. Find out more.

Caloundra State High prop Darcel Snowden appears to have escaped serious long-term injury.

It comes after grave concerns were held for his welfare as he lay unmoved on the turf at Tugun RLFC for about 40 minutes during his school’s Langer Trophy clash with PBC.

The injury forced the Wednesday night game to be called off midway through the second half, as the clock doesn’t stop for injuries, with PBC claiming a 28-0 victory.

“They seemed to have cleared him of anything super sinister and I think they’ve put it down to bruising around the lumbar spine area, it’s great news,” said Caloundra coach Toby Poole.

Snowden was stretchered into an ambulance on Wednesday night and taken to hospital, accompanied by Poole. His parents also drove down from the Sunshine Coast to join him, before he was discharged in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Darcel Snowden pictured in his Sunshine Coast Falcons threads. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“You can’t leave him, the poor kid, he’s only 17 and stressed about being a paraplegic,” Poole reflected.

“Hopefully not something that’s going to be repeated, but it’s one of those risks we take with the sport we play.

“It’s only a game of footy, his health was always going to come first.”

Poole also praised the swift response from his trainer.

“Our trainer, who was first on scene was outstanding, Chris Charlton, he’s been involved in footy for years and he was a bit rattled by it.

“The (players), considering it, were all quite good, but obviously pretty concerned and worried about Darc.

“The news that came through early hours in the morning helped ease everyone’s mind, which was nice.”

Caloundra also lost star forward Cooper Clarke early in the match with an ankle injury. How long he will be sidelined for still remains unknown, with the Queensland Schoolboys select sent for scans on Thursday.

“We’ll find out more from that point on, hopefully he gets a speedy recovery for nationals,” Poole said.

Clarke was named in Queensland’s squad for the ASSRL Under-18s Nationals next month, which will be exclusively live streamed on KommunityTV.