‘It’s 200kg on top of him’: Weitering injury casts dark cloud over State Of Origin

A dark cloud has been cast over the historic return of State Of Origin football after Carlton star Jacob Weitering was taken to hospital for scans following a heavy knock in the opening term of Saturday night’s game.

Weitering was flattened during a marking contest late in the first term at Perth Stadium and is expected to be sidelined for several weeks. He was being checked for shoulder and rib injuries.

“He’s going to miss a period of time, I think,” coach Chris Scott said after Victoria’s 24-point victory over Western Australia.

“But I wouldn’t like to say any more than that out of respect for Carlton.”

Weitering fell awkwardly after attempting to spoil Western Australian forward Mitch Georgiades.

As he landed on his back, Georgiades and Victorian defender Sam Collins came down heavily across his head, chest and shoulders.

“It’s about 200 kilograms coming down on top of him,” Jonathan Brown said of the collision during Fox Footy’s coverage.

Weitering did not move and a hush spread across the parochial home crowd.

After the game, Collins told this masthead he remembered coming back into the marking contest with Georgiades and then landing on Weitering.

“I not sure if I did the damage or someone else, but it’s just part of footy, I suppose,” Collin said.

“It was pretty unfortunate. So hopefully, he’s doing alright. I landed on him, and he didn’t look in a good way, but from all reports he’s in good spirits now, and he’s going to be alright.”

Play was stopped for several minutes as trainers attended a prostrate Weitering. He was placed on a stretcher and brought from the ground out on a buggy.

The Blues defender was also placed in a neck brace as a precaution, but gave a thumbs-up as he was taken to the rooms. He was then transported to hospital.

Carlton later posted on social media: “Jacob is continuing to undergo all necessary assessments in hospital as a precaution: we’ll be in a position to provide a further and more accurate update tomorrow [Sunday], once assessments are completed. For now though, we can tell you he is currently in good spirits and surrounded by family. Sending all the love to our No.23.”

It was a moment that many fans had feared in the lead-up to the clash, losing one of their club’s biggest stars to injury in a game that was not being played for four points during the home and away season.

“It is obviously not what the game wanted. But also, I think that’s what this game will throw up,” Victorian ruckman Max Gawn said.

“That’s two, three guys in that contest going as hard as they can for the football. I can’t mix my words here – I don’t want to say I loved the contest, but that’s Origin footy.

“I’m sure Weiters would do the same thing if he had the chance to do it again.”

Many believe a serious knee injury to South Australia’s Tony Hall, brought down by his Hawthorn teammate Andy Collins at the MCG in 1989, led to the demise of State of Origin football.

But Scott believes the resurrected series is here to stay, following the sell-out success of Saturday night’s high-octane shootout in Perth which Victoria won 18.17 (125) to 15.11 (101).

“I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be every year,” he said.

“But maybe if it does wane a little bit, maybe then you think about adjusting it, but I can’t imagine that being the case. I think it will only grow legs. I mean, as a coach, I think it’s the best time now [in February].

“For example, our players [at Geelong] have a practice match against Hawthorn on Monday. I know where I’d rather my players be playing. You know the intensity out there, they said it was pretty hot.”

When asked how he would process the Weitering incident, Scott referenced Giants midfielder Tom Green, who suffered an ACL injury during an intra-club practice match on Friday morning.

“There’s never a situation when an opposition player gets hurt where you feel nothing but sorry for the player as an individual, obviously, but the club more generally,” Scott said.

“It sort of reinforces that these things happen, and I hope Jacob’s OK. One thing I should say is that the care for the players was first class and that’s not a reflection of the coaching staff, necessarily, it’s more the high-performance team.

“But what we’ve decided to do from here is allow Carlton to give the updates. Our understanding is that it’s serious enough that you need to be updated on it.”

Scott said he understood Carlton fans would be disappointed.

“I just don’t think that they will be any more disappointed than the GWS fans about Tom (Green) or the players that inevitably get injured at preseason training or preseason games” he said.

“I guess the only coherent argument you could make is the intensity here is likely higher than a practice game.”

Scott reiterated a comment made by defender Lachie Ash, who won the EJ Whitten Medal as Victoria’s best player, that “if you’re half-hearted, you’re more likely to get injured”.

“That’s always been my approach as a coach,” he said. “I’m a bigger believer in luck than I’ve ever been. More specifically, you’re going to get some bad luck, and you just need to roll with the punches.”

Ash said footballers faced injury risks whether they were playing an intra-club practice match or at State Of Origin level.

“You’re still playing four quarters of footy,” he said. “Everyone’s still going 100 per cent.

“I think when you sort of take liberties, or you don’t approach it in the right way, that’s when you are going to find yourself getting hurt, whether it’s here or whether it’s in a practice match.”

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