AFL Outer East 2021: Gembrook Cockatoo and Monbulk match abandoned after player injured

An AFL Outer East Division 1 game was called off after a Monbulk player was hurt in a collision with a former AFL player.

Monbulk player Clayton Spooner was taken by ambulance to The Alfred hospital. He was cleared of serious injury. Picture: Stephen Harman

The game between Gembrook Cockatoo and Monbulk on Saturday was declared a draw after there were fears a player may have suffered spinal injuries.

Monbulk defender Clayton Spooner was left concussed after colliding with Gembrook’s former AFL player Michael Firrito as he ran back with the flight of the ball late in the opening quarter of the game at Heatherbrae Reserve in Officer.

Spooner was treated by paramedics on the ground and taken by ambulance to The Alfred hospital where he was cleared of serious injury and released on Saturday night.

The game was called off.

Monbulk football operations manager Mat Mullinder said medical staff were worried about Spooner’s neck.

“He was coming in and out of consciousness,” he said.

Monbulk coach Andrew Williams said it was a concerning time as Spooner lay on the ground.

“It was, yeah,’’ he said.

“Obviously the trainers were pretty concerned about it and we were a little bit unsure how it was going to end up.

“It was one of those things. He put himself in a position that was wasn’t going to end well for him.

“He dropped in the hole and was a sitting duck. It’s fortunate he hasn’t ended up with serious injury.’’

Monbulk was leading by seven points when Spooner ran back to try and intercept a kick into the Gembrook forward line.

“The Gembrook player (Firrito) was coming forward to the ball and jumped and he just got collected in the contest,” Mullinder said.

“The ambulance took a while to get there.

“A MICA got there about 35 or 40 minutes after it happened and then an ambulance about another 30 minutes after that.

“The netball had nearly finished by the time they got him off the ground and out of there.”

Mullinder said it had been a difficult couple of weeks for residents in the Dandenong Ranges after the wild storm caused so much damage.

“It’s been pretty crazy up here for a lot of people, especially people up the hill,” he said.

“There are a few people in our team that haven’t got power back yet, so it’s been a bit of an odd week for us.

“We didn’t have power on Thursday night for training so we had to scramble over to the high school.”

Gembrook Cockatoo coach Brad Coller said the first-versus-third game was all set up to be a great contest before play was halted.

“The first 20 minutes was bloody hot, a lot of pressure,’’ he said.

“There was no real clean footy. I think both teams were trying to sort things out.

“We were looking forward to testing ourselves, and I suppose Monbulk were as well after the time off.

“It was disappointing we didn’t get it done, but the safety of the young fella (Spooner) comes first.’’

In other games, Emerald thrashed Belgrave by 107 points, 18.17 (125) to 2.6 (18). Patrick Chin booted five goals and Jordan Donadel was named best-afield.

Mt Evelyn had 40 scoring shots in its 113-point win over Healesville, 22.18 (150) to 5.7 (37). Callum Urquhart slotted five goals and Brendan Lord four.

Ben O’Loughlin turned in a best-on-ground display to help Officer to an eight-point win over Seville, 8.3 (51) to 6.7 (43).