St Mary’s officials breathe a sigh of relief after Anthony Long is injured in a heavy fall

St Mary’s defender Anthony Long in pain but out of serious danger after crashing to the ground head first

Saint Anthony Long, centre, with teammates. Picture: Aaron Black AFLNT/Media

ST MARY’S defender Anthony Long appears to have escaped serious injury after colliding with teammate Will Hams at Nightcliff Oval on Sunday.

The “friendly fire’’ occurred when Long crashed to the ground head first after colliding with Hams midway through the second quarter.

St Mary’s coach Anthony Vallejo saw the incident from close range and immediately knew his player was in trouble.

“Anthony must have clipped Wills’ hip or shoulder because he was knocked out,’’ Vallejo said.

“He was in the changerooms for quite a while before they called an ambulance, after which he eventually spent a night in hospital.

“There was feeling in his hands and feet so the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been after a collision like that.

“But he was in a lot of pain. When I walked into the rooms at halftime he was hooked up to some sort of machine to give him some pain relief.’’

The injury revived memories of the spinal injury that ended Darwin Buffalo Tai Martin-Page’s playing career after a 2018 collision.

Long could miss up to three games before the finals as precautionary measure against recurring concussion.