Bob Hawke rushes to grandson's side after horror tackle

The Daily Telegraph August 14, 2009

http://twf.com.au/picture.php?albumid=41&pictureid=572

Horror crunch ... FORMER prime minister Bob Hawke has rushed to visit his severely injured grandson, who lost his spleen after a vicious rugby tackle made last weekend.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal Mr Hawke saw 26-year-old David Dillon at Prince of Wales Hospital on Wednesday, the day after his emergency operation, when the former PM returned from an overseas trip.

"He has visited David in hospital," Mr Hawke's office confirmed yesterday.

Mr Dillon, a winger for Randwick rugby union team, was walking and receiving physiotherapy but was he still too unwell to speak publicly yesterday.

"He's not feeling very well but he's OK," a family spokeswoman said yesterday.

Mr Dillon is expected to remain in hospital for at least a week and it is unclear if he will be able to play rugby again.

The man who tackled him, ex-Bronco Leon Bott, is understood to be deeply upset and may face further disciplinary action from the NSW citing commissioner.

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He was sin-binned for the tackle in a Shute Shield game against Manly on Saturday.

A ruptured spleen can be a life-threatening injury - and can cause significant blood loss.

Dr Ronald McCoy, of the Royal Australasian College of GPs, said people could survive without a spleen, which was a key part of the immune system and generated vital disease-fighting antibodies.

A severely ruptured spleen is usually surgically removed but a person becomes highly susceptible to infections such as pneumonia and meningitis.

Incredibly, Mr Dillon kept playing after the tackle, which happened while he waited under a high ball. On Tuesday he was rushed to hospital and had the organ removed that day.

....its a reminder to all, play hard but play safe...


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...-1225761159770

I saw that tackle. It was pretty nasty. Dillon took it pretty well, I'm pretty sure he played on.

To anyone interested, Bott did pretty much exactly the same thing Giteau did on du Preez, only around the mid-section.

He hit Dillion straight on with his shoulder in hiss mid section with a unobstructed 20 meter run up... Ouch ... Dillion did play on... spleen damage is not always picked up straight away...

Giteau's was reckless but his run was around the play and he then jumped into du Preez side on...

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Originally Posted by James

I saw that tackle. It was pretty nasty. Dillon took it pretty well, I'm pretty sure he played on.

To anyone interested, Bott did pretty much exactly the same thing Giteau did on du Preez, only around the mid-section.

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Are you sure you saw this tackle then?

How can you compare this to Gits tackle?

1 minute in and you'll see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja_lYAcGQTw

they showed a replay of the tackle up here in brisbane as well

i think giteaus and leons tackles fit in the same category, i mean both players were running pretty hard and didnt have there eyes on the ball at all, they were only watching the players

We may be in for some interesting times. A second later and that would have been fine - the spleen would still be bust, but it would have been perfectly legal. So with the current direction of the game, a bit more practice and legally popped spleens for, say, Pietersen and Turner in internationally televised matches...

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Originally Posted by TOCC

they showed a replay of the tackle up here in brisbane as well

i think giteaus and leons tackles fit in the same category, i mean both players were running pretty hard and didnt have there eyes on the ball at all, they were only watching the players

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Dunno, I'd have to see Gits tackle again. Botts tackle looks like he just was going to take out a player. Gits looks like he runs in, trips, F**** up and hits the player with momentum.

Both bad timing but the Manly boys action was reckless.

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Originally Posted by AndyS

We may be in for some interesting times. A second later and that would have been fine - the spleen would still be bust, but it would have been perfectly legal. So with the current direction of the game, a bit more practice and legally popped spleens for, say, Pietersen and Turner in internationally televised matches...

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Not sure i agree here AndyS... If he had caught the ball on his chest he may have taken some of the blow on his arms... and less damage would have been a more likely outcome...

That may be. But Bott never had eyes for the ball. He had every intention on inflicting some sort of damage on Dillon. However, considering he played on I didn't think it affected him that much.

Poor cous. Bott must feel like crap for inflicting that on Dillon but at the same time its not as if it was a situation that he coudln't have prevented ie. it wasn't a tackle where he had already committed and couldn't avert hitting the other player, there was plenty of open space he could have run into instead of straight into a player's abdomen.

Was Bott yellow carded? Or red?

one of my mates actually grew up with Leon, he reckons the bloke is pretty shy and reserved, its not in his nature to go out with the intent to hurt people, maybe it was just a brain snap on the day

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Originally Posted by Ecky

Was Bott yellow carded? Or red?

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Only yellow but I was sitting at home waiting for the red to come out.

---------- Post added at 20:34 ---------- Previous post was at 20:32 ----------

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Originally Posted by TOCC

one of my mates actually grew up with Leon, he reckons the bloke is pretty shy and reserved, its not in his nature to go out with the intent to hurt people, maybe it was just a brain snap on the day

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He just lined up for a big hit and really mistimed it. There was no malice in it just a really bad err on his judgement of where the ball would be when he made the tackle. If he had caught the ball and then the tackle was made it would be the tackle of the year.

Sure Bott's tackle was more damaging but weight behind it was a fairly big factor behind that. Bott looks to put a good 10-15kg on Giteau. TOCC's statement that both offences were players tackling the man without the ball with no apparent care for where the ball even was covers what I meant.

I thought Gits might have been a bit concussed or else somehow provoked. Seems uncharacteristic from him but it messed up du Preez all the same.

Yellow card for Bott, Eck.

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Originally Posted by James

Sure Bott's tackle was more damaging but weight behind it was a fairly big factor behind that. Bott looks to put a good 10-15kg on Giteau. TOCC's statement that both offences were players tackling the man without the ball with no apparent care for where the ball even was covers what I meant.

I thought Gits might have been a bit concussed or else somehow provoked. Seems uncharacteristic from him but it messed up du Preez all the same.

Yellow card for Bott, Eck.

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Gits was lucky he didn't pop his shoulder out the way he came down.

Frustrated maybe?? Was very uncharacteristic of him.

Yeah - I'd have shown him yellow