There was “carnage” at Marvel Stadium when two St Kilda players were left bloodied after a horror head clash late in the win over Carlton.
Hunter Clark and Dan Butler smashed into each other trying to lay a tackle late in the final term of the 15-point win.
Clark was put in a neck brace and stretchered from the field, clearly suffering from at a minimum a broken nose.
“The neck brace is on and thoughts are with him,” commentator Hamish McLachlan said.
“He’s just had no luck this guy,” Daisy Pearce added.
But in good signs for both players, the duo took part in the team song.
“As he was taken off as he copped the brunt of that force right to his face, you thought, ‘it’s happened again’,” Fox Footy’s Jon Ralph said.
Horrible scenes here as Dan Butler and Hunter Clark collide 🤕
Let's hope they're both okay 🤞
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🔢 MATCH CENTRE https://t.co/Or0YItI9kI pic.twitter.com/rffTMmMdYh— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) July 1, 2022
“He was in the song. His nose seemed to be smeared to one side of his face.
“It seems like it could have been so much worse.”
It’s just a year since Clark suffered a shocking broken jaw in a collision that saw Crow David Mackay escape a ban.
Clark suffered three fractures to his jaw, nerve damage and dental damage in the hit and missed eight weeks of footy.
Butler finished the game with strapping on his face after using towels to stem the bleeding from his forehead.
“(Ruckman Rowan) Marshall down in the rooms with the other doc at the moment. Butler is sitting here on his own at the moment,” commentator Matthew Richardson said from the sidelines.
“He hasn’t even got a doctor here to look at him at the moment. It’s just carnage.
“There’s two doctors and they are both obviously tied up at this point.”
Luckily Clark was quickly taken on the medi cab from the field and Butler was able to be assessed.
Coach Brett Ratten confirmed Hunter would be heading to hospital post-match for further treatment.
“Hunter’s got a broken nose, like a compound fracture sort of come through. It’s pretty ugly,” he said in his press conference.
“He’s had a bad run. He’s put his head in some wrong spots and been cleaned up.
“It doesn’t usually happen (in the game)… but he’s brave, tough.
“He was trying to do the right thing for the team which is first and foremost.
