AFL urged to intervene after four players hurt in incidents involving pushes into marking contests

The AFL has been urged to intervene on a dangerous new trend which resulted in four players being hurt in pre-season games. What action should be taken? HAVE YOUR SAY

The AFL has been urged to intervene after St Kilda’s Mitch Owens became the fourth player in the pre-season to be injured after being pushed into a marking contest by an opponent.

Owens is in doubt for the start of the season after hurting his shoulder when Port Adelaide ruckman Jordon Sweet nudged him into the back of his teammate Miles Bergman.

The Saints forward immediately grabbed his shoulder and then cradled his left arm as he walked from the ground. He then spent the second half of the game on the bench with ice on the injury.

There have been three similar incidents in the pre-season with Richmond’s No. 1 draft pick Sam Lalor suffering a fractured jaw and concussion after he was pushed by West Coast’s Reuben Ginbey into the back of Eagles SSP signing Sandy Brock.

On Thursday night Brisbane’s Brandon Starcevich suffered concussion after young Adelaide Crow Dan Curtin pushed him into a marking contest.

And earlier on Thursday, Laitham Vandermeer was concussed after James Sicily nudged Jordan Croft into him in a marking contest.

Mitch Owens has been ruled out of the game after this incident.#AFLSaintsPowerpic.twitter.com/O1lvmTcLfO

— AFL (@AFL) March 1, 2025

Both Ginbey and Curtin weren’t mentioned on the AFL match review panel reports of the games.

North Melbourne premiership star and Fox Footy commentator David King called for immediate action after seeing Owens incident in the dying minutes of the second quarter of the Community Cup game at Moorabbin.

“The AFL needs to get involved and stamp this out quickly,” King said.

Port Adelaide assistant coach Chad Cornes said: “I know there has been three of them over the weekend possibly, I’m sure that is something they will look at if that becomes a trend,” Cornes said.

“But it’s not something we train or we want to do, sometimes the players find themselves in awkward positions. I can’t actually recall the Sweety one but I’ll have a good look at it.”

St Kilda assistant coach Corey Enright said he didn’t see the Owens incident.

“I can’t really comment on the act itself but if that’s occurred over the early stages of the year I guess the AFL will look at it,” he said.

The Saints will send Owens for scans on the shoulder over the next 48 hours,

“We’ll go through what he has to do in the next 24-48 hours and then we need to look at the damage and if it is significant or not, we don’t know it’s too early to assess that at the moment,” Enright said.

was Vandermeer's head injury caused by Silicy pushing Croft into the marking contest? pic.twitter.com/22PMLzw1Rp

— outbreezy (@outbreezyWC) February 27, 2025

Brandon Starcevich left the field after this incident.#AFLLionsCrowspic.twitter.com/RMYN2oGUP1

— AFL (@AFL) February 27, 2025

Sam Lalor came from the ground following this contest.

🎥: Kayo Sports/Fox Sports pic.twitter.com/eAYDV3XOvh

— AFL (@AFL) February 17, 2025

“We’re hopeful it is not a major thing. You never want to see injuries, particularly this time of the year and we’ve seen across the board, not only with our team, there has been some significant injuries to really good players and you don’t want to see that

“So fingers crossed for Mitch and the others.”

The Owens injury is a major blow for St Kilda coach Ross Lyon given there is doubt on full-forward Max King for the season opener against Adelaide after he had knee surgery last week.

“The surgery went well and he was back in the club today,” Enright said. “We don’t know what the time frame is, it is going to be early in the season and it could be Round 1, it could be Round 2 or it could be Round 3 depending on how quickly he gets going.”

Fellow forward Cooper Sharman also had an injury scare against Port, going off with a hand injury in the second half.