Former Fremantle Dockers ruck Zac Clarke has been slapped with a ban for a scary on-field incident which left a fellow former AFL player with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain.
Clarke was playing for Doncaster East in Melbourne’s Eastern Football Netball League when chased St Kilda player Eli Templeton towards the boundary-line, before pushing him in the back and sending him into a water container and over a wire fence.
Templeton hit his head on a footpath just outside the fence with some force. Spectators and players appeared visibly distressed by the incident as trainers rushed to help.
Clarke was given a two-week ban but the league’s tribunal on Tuesday night, but Templeton’s club, the Balwyn Tigers are reportedly set to appeal the decision, believing the sanction to be inadequate.
The match was abandoned after an ambulance was called in the third-quarter, with the Tigers handed the win because they led at the time.
Balwyn president Richard Wilson said Tempelton’s condition had improved and he was expected to make a full recovery.
“He spoke on the phone last night (Saturday), he’s cognitive and speaking and passing all the tests, which means he’s basically going to be OK,” he said.
Clarke played 101 games for Fremantle between 2009 and 2016, including all three of the club’s finals appearance in its only grand final season in 2013.
He then spent time at WAFL club Subiaco, before being thrown an AFL lifeline for one season by Essendon in 2019.
There are two matches remaining in the EFNL’s regular season, but Doncaster are set to play finals, which means Clarke would be available if the Tigers’ appeal fails.
They currently have an 11-5 record and it will be the club’s first finals appearance in the league’s top division.
Templeton spent three years at St Kilda for a total of 14 games before being de-listed. He is currently listed at VFL club Port Melbourne.
On Sunday, the Saints posted a message for the former player on their social media.
“Our thoughts are with former Saint Eli Templeton,” the post read.
“Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.”
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