Melbourne premiership star Jake Lever ‘collapsed’ at pre-season training

There was a scary moment at Melbourne’s pre-season training when a premiership star collapsed and required medical attention.

Melbourne's Jake Lever collapses at training.

Melbourne premiership star Jake Lever “collapsed” in his return to training and required medical attention for 20 minutes before being sent home.

The superstar defender struggled with a tough running drill on a warm Melbourne day as veteran players returned to their AFL clubs for pre-season.

Footage from Nine News showed Lever wobbling on his feet before slowly lying down on the training surface, where he remained.

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An eventful first session back for Melbourne this morning.

Jake Lever collapsed after tough running drill and was tended to by medicos for about 20 minutes.

Thankfully, club says he simply fainted and is now resting at [e-mail]/AUIKS1Yg4E

— Ayrton Woolley (@AyrtonWoolley) December 6, 2021

It was the first training session under new Melbourne high performance boss Selwyn Griffith after highly-rated guru Darren Burgess left to join Adelaide.

“He (Griffith) wants to make his mark pretty early and he’s got us training really hard at the moment. There’s a bit of nervous energy about the (1km) time trials,” Demons midfielder Jack Viney said on Sunday.

The Demons said Lever fainted after going “a bit too hard, too early”.

He was checked on by medical staff, coach Simon Goodwin and head of football Alan Richardson before he was told to go home and rest.

Medical staff attend to Jake Lever. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Demons head coach Simon Goodwin checks on Lever. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Lever walked off unassisted. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

A number of Lever’s Demons teammates also struggled in the heat, with Melbourne’s Olympic Park area, where the club trains, reaching a top of 27.4 degrees at 2.54pm on Monday.

The session came a day after the Demons celebrated their 2021 premiership in front of 30,000-odd fans at the MCG.

Originally published as Melbourne premiership star Jake Lever ‘collapsed’ at pre-season training