Collingwood tall Mason Cox will need another medical check-up before knowing when he could potentially return to AFL action, after revealing he had “two to three litres of internal bleeding”.
A bump back in Round 2 saw doctors initially suspecting a broken rib for the American but it was revealed to be a haematoma and ruptured spleen.
“I had two to three litres of internal bleeding into the system, which is not ideal,” he said on KIIS radio on Tuesday.
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“Essentially the next day I woke up and went to the doctor and I was in hospital 30 minutes later.
“I had a little operation, like a crazy operation that goes into your spleen and plugs things up and for the last two to three weeks, I’ve just been doing nothing.
“I can’t get the heart rate up, can’t work out or anything like that, so I’ve just been walking around. It’s the most that I can do.”
After training several days after the injury – which he described as “the dumbest thing you could do” – Cox explained he was “OK for a bit but for the first four-day period, it was kind of misdiagnosed.
“We thought it was a broken rib and then we looked at the scans further and the radiologist realised he missed something.
“That was internal bleeding, which is pretty crazy to think.
“It was an interesting week, looking back on it, it was pretty serious and the fact I live alone – if something does happen and it becomes like a ruptured spleen, it would be very serious.”
The Magpies and opponents Essendon have until Sunday to name their squad before the ANZAC Day clash on Tuesday afternoon.
Both teams are hopeful of having midfielders freed from one-week dangerous tackle bans, with Zach Merrett and Taylor Adams fronting the Tribunal on Tuesday evening.
