Aine McDonagh has suffered a gruesome injury in the third quarter of Hawthorn’s crushing AFLW semi-final defeat to Port Adelaide on Saturday night.
The Hawks kicked out to a two-goal lead at Princes Park but an innocuous accident in the build-up left McDonagh in serious pain.
The Irish star went to ground after being collected in a marking contest and, in the moment she fell to the turf, had her left hand stepped on by Port Adelaide’s Amelie Borg.
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Borg appeared to have felt that she had trod on her opponent, having leapt up in a millisecond before turning to check on McDonagh.
McDonagh’s hand was wrapped in a towel by a trainer who immediately went to work on the bench.
“In a lot of pain, you can see the distress, she is in tears here,” Nat Edwards said on Channel 7.
“She has a cut and it looks quite deep on her left hand in her palm. It is bleeding profusely, they’re trying to stop it but she is in a world of pain.”
McDonagh was still being tended to minutes later — and still in agony.
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Hawthorn’s AFLW development manager Jenni Screen, an Australian basjketball great, was spotted covering McDonagh’s face and comforting the 26-year-old.
“Hawthorn’s doctor is doing an amazing job stopping the bleeding,” Edwards said.
“She’s now gluing back together the cut on McDonagh’s left hand. It’s intense work.
“A nice little touch, too — a member of the crowd came down and gave Anie a little portable fan, because she was very distressed and hot, so that was something that made her smile at least.”
Incredibly, after being fixed up McDonagh was “absolutely chomping at the bit” to get back on the ground midway through the fourth quarter.
“She’s been hassling her coach Daniel Webster but right now he doesn’t want her to come back on because she did some touch work and was unable to mark anything with that left hand,” Edwards said.
More pain was to follow for the Hawks when Jas Fleming suffered a possible dislocated finger in a marking contest later in the third quarter.
She immediately ran to the bench and was soon being worked on by club staff.
In the fourth quarter Mattea Bread left the field with a knee injury.
“She doesn’t look happy at the moment,” Edwards said.