‘Could hear it from 100m away’: Horrible face-to-face smash rocks AFL

They were laughing in the medical room afterwards but the brutal head clash between Eagles teammates Tom Cole and Josh Rotham was no laughing matter.

In one of the nastier replays you’ll see this season, the West Coast players came closer to each other than they ever would have imagined after attempting to tackle Collingwood’s John Noble at the same time late in the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ win on Friday night.

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The Magpie managed to avoid both pursuers, who didn’t see each other coming and met face-to-face with terrific force.

“They missed the meat in the sandwich and got each other,” Channel 7 commentator Brian Taylor said. “There’s a lot of blood …

“See that last replay? That was jaw on jaw. That was horrible.”

“Huge head clash,” boundary rider Luke Hodge added. “You could hear the slapping of heads and I’m 100m from it.”

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Tom Cole and Josh Rotham smash faces.Source:FOX SPORTS

Rotham immediately walked off with blood pouring from a large cut between his eyes but Cole stayed down for several minutes while he was attended to by the Eagles medical staff.

A stretcher was called but the 23-year-old was able to stand and walk off the ground.

West Coast coach Adam Simpson provided an update at his post-match press conference.

“Coley and Roth are okay,” he said. “They were smiling and giggling in the medical room. We’ve dodged a bullet.”

Tom Cole lies on the ground after clashing heads with Josh Rotham. (Photo by Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

Josh Rotham leaves the field under the blood rule. (Photo by Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

Tom Cole was also able to walk off. (Photo by Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

Magpies stars ruled out of ANZAC Day

Collingwood will be without star pair Jeremy Howe and Jordan De Goey for the ANZAC Day clash with Essendon, after they copped injuries in a brutal 20-minute patch against West Coast.

Magpies coach Nathan Buckley confirmed in his post-match press conference De Goey was taken out of the game in the first quarter with both a broken nose and concussion – the latter despite the fact De Goey returned to the game for a period after the collision that saw him injured.

“I’m not sure if it was delayed concussion, but the doctor assessed him when he had the opportunity to and deemed that he was no good to continue,” Buckley said.

“More than likely he misses another week, I don’t think he’ll miss any more than that with his nose, but he won’t be able to play next week given the rules, and then he’ll be looking to Round 7.”

While De Goey will miss at least a week through the concussion protocols, Howe is likely to miss much longer.

Jeremy Howe clutches his knee. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

The star backman was helped from the ground by two trainers after clutching at his leg following a marking contest in the second term – he appeared to clutch at his hamstring on the same leg he had surgery on to reconstruct his PCL and reattach his MCL last year.

Buckley couldn’t put a time frame on Howe’s expected absence, as he’ll have scans on Saturday.

“Hammies aren’t great at the best of times, but we’ll have to look at the scans and see how that settles,” Buckley said.

Meanwhile forward Brody Mihocek ended the game on the bench with ice on his shoulder, Buckley saying he had suffered “a bit of an AC stinger”.

— with foxsports.com.au

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