Lorne action?

by PAUL DAFFEY
The Lorne Football Club is considering legal action in support of a dual best-and-fairest winner who continues to suffer impaired vision, headaches and memory loss from an incident in a final almost a month ago.

A doctor at the game feared for midfielder Paul Whyte's life when he failed to regain consciousness for 10 minutes after receiving an elbow to the right temple in the second semi-final against South Colac on August 31.

Lorne went on to win the game by 99 points before requesting investigations into the incident in which Whyte was knocked out and an incident in which full-forward Dean Holroyd received a knee to the head.

South Colac player Dale Murley was charged with conduct unbecoming against Whyte while teammate Justin Tate was charged with conduct unbecoming against Holroyd. They played in their club's four-point victory over Forrest in the preliminary final before the investigation was completed, with Murley receiving an eight-match suspension and Tate receiving a four-match ban.

Whyte's condition upset his teammates when he addressed them before the grand final at Central Reserve, Colac. Dolphins president Chris Nicholson said: "It was a pretty emotional moment, especially for the younger guys. There wasn't a dry eye in the room."

The Lorne players were noticeably distracted as South Colac raced to a six-goal lead at quarter-time. The Dolphins, undefeated since their 2000 grand-final loss to Alvie, pegged back the lead but South Colac held on to score an unlikely victory by nine points.

australianrules.com.au

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