Crow Reilly’s playing future in doubt
Veteran Adelaide defender Brent Reilly is resting in the Royal Adelaide Hospital’s intensive care unit after undergoing surgery late yesterday to repair a depressed fracture of his skull.
Reilly was kneed in the head during training yesterday, with the 31-year-old rushed to hospital before having a plate inserted in his head.
The Crows say Reilly is out of immediate danger, but will remain in the hospital’s intensive care unit over the coming days where his recovery will be closely monitored.
Club doctor Andrew Potter said today that Reilly had been struck by a knee in the side of the head during a routine training drill.
The collision – which happened while players were contesting a ground ball – caused a depressed fracture of the skull which was “unstable” and therefore needed repair.
You might like
Potter said Reilly was knocked unconscious and immediately taken from the Thebarton Oval training field where he was assessed by club medical staff.
“We were concerned he had a major head injury and we called the ambulance straight away,” Potter said.
He estimated that Reilly was in the ambulance within 20 minutes of being injured.
The club called Reilly’s wife and his parents were flown from interstate to be with him.
Stay informed, daily
Potter said it was too early to say whether Reilly would play again.
“We just have to take it – to use a cliche – day by day,” he said.
He said Reilly was breathing spontaneously and was sedated, as is usual practice after such surgery.
It was the first depressed skull fracture that Potter had seen in football.
“It’s very unusual in football,” he said, noting that such injuries were more common in sports like downhill skiing and motor racing.
Crows head of football David Noble said support was being provided to Crows players, with the club pastor and a sports psychologist on hand.
“These incidents are never nice at the best of times,” he said.
Noble wouldn’t say which other player was involved in the incident, stressing that the club was supporting all players.
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
