Caroline Springs full-forward Mathew Sutton had to go to hospital on Saturday night after a behind-the-play scuffle left him with concussion and a suspected broken nose.
Sutton was helped from the field by Lakers trainers with blood gushing from his nose and opposition North Footscray confirmed later that defender Tyson Bock had been reported.
Caroline Springs football director Marc Raak said he was disappointed by the outcome of the physical exchange but would let the tribunal hearing take its course.
“We’re not too happy that one of our players got treated that way, but what do you do?” Raak told Star Weekly.
“You leave it to the umpires to adjudicate the game and leave it to the tribunal to hand down their decision.
“The right thing has happened … he was reported.
“We’ll go to the tribunal and state our case and they’ll state their case, then we’ll let the committee of the WRFL and the tribunal take over and see what happens.”
Caroline Springs wound up losing the WRFL division 2 top-three tussle by 61 points at Town Centre Oval.
The loss all but extinguished the Lakers’ hopes of a prized top-two finish, which comes with the bonus of a double chance.
Barring a miraculous turn of events, the Lakers cannot move from third on the ladder, which is fine by them.
“For the first time in Caroline Springs’ history, we’re going to finish third and play finals in senior football,” Raak said.
“We’re achieving what we wanted to achieve and that’s play in the finals. Hopefully, we can go deep into the finals.
“We’ve grown every year for the last three years but just haven’t played finals.
“It’s going to be huge for our club and it’s going to be huge for our community out in Caroline Springs.
“We’re really looking forward to the challenge.”
Caroline Springs was thought to be on a par with top two North Footscray and Yarraville-Seddon in the premiership race, but some might be asking if the other two have edged their noses in front.
So far this season the Lakers have failed to get the job done in blockbuster matches featuring the big three, with a 1-4 record, while Yarraville-Seddon is 3-1 and North Footscray is 3-2.
Raak defended his side’s record and warned against counting his team out.
“If you look at the Yarraville game last time, it was game-on at three-quarter time, so we know we were in the hunt there,” he said after Saturday’s match.
“North Footscray is 2-1 [against Caroline Springs], but we have beaten them at their home ground.
“We’re a little bit concerned but we’re not going to read too much into it.
“We know our best football can beat North Footscray, we’ve shown that, and we’ve also been competitive for three quarters against Yarraville.
“We need to produce a four-quarter effort and play better than what we did today. Hopefully, that will be enough to go to the next level.”
Caroline Springs will visit fourth-placed Glen Orden on Saturday.
These two sides are likely to meet again in a cut-throat game in the first week of the finals.
