Melbourne defender Steven May has been sent to hospital for further assessment on a rib injury that forced him out of Friday night’s loss to the Western Bulldogs.
May was hurt in the second quarter of the Demons’ 51-point loss at Docklands Stadium and came off the ground minutes before half-time, clutching at the rib area on his right side. The 32-year-old was subbed out of the game during the main interval.
The injury is to the same area which caused May to miss a week earlier this season after he was rushed to hospital in an ambulance during Melbourne’s clash against Hawthorn in Round 2 following a marking contest involving Hawks forward Mabior Chol.
“He’s got some ribs (hurt), so we’ll get that looked at,” Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said after the match.
“Obviously getting him assessed, we’ll just have a good look at where that sits, but obviously go away and get precautionary scans, check everything and make sure everything is right. Fingers crossed he’s OK.
“Obviously he had those ribs earlier in the year and managed to come back, so we’ll just have to have a really good look at that.”
The loss is yet another major blow to Melbourne’s finals hopes, with the 2021 premiers currently sitting 12th on the ladder, eight points adrift of the top eight, a gap that is likely to increase by the end of the round.
Goodwin lamented his side’s poor start to the match, a start the Demons never recovered from.
“The start was incredibly disappointing, to be on the back foot like that,” he said.
“They dominated us around the ball and were able to score way too easily. I’m incredibly frustrated with how we started the game.
“In patches we were able to bring that into the game we were looking for, but overall just nowhere near the level required to beat a team that is in very, very, very good form. That’s the bottom line – we just weren’t up to the level tonight.”
The Western Bulldogs were one of two teams to win on Friday night, with the West Coast Eagles upsetting the Gold Coast Suns by 10 points in Perth.
Gold Coast’s loss meant it is yet to win a game away from Carrara Stadium this season, and ended the club’s already slim hopes of reaching the finals for the first time since it entered the league in 2011.
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