Dale was helped off at the 17-minute mark of the third quarter in the match against Wodonga Raiders at Birallee Park.

He walked off so gingerly, it was almost as though he was walking on eggshells.

“He came off with heart palpitations and went straight to hospital,” co-coach Terry Burgess said.

“He wasn’t sure what was going on.”

The 20-year-old described the surreal feelings to his father Andrew, a former O and M star himself.

“He just said he felt like all wasn’t well and he got a bit anxious I think,” he said.

“He had shortness of breath and heart palpitation.

“He went down on one knee to get himself together and slow down his breathing and that probably, in the end, just closed up his airways so he quickly got back up.

“He could feel his heart really racing so, of course, he started to think the worst.”

Dale underwent a series of tests at Wodonga hospital.

“There didn’t seem to be any serious problems, there’s a bit of water to go under the bridge with follow up testing of course,” his father said.

“They say there’s a series of triggers like exercise, adrenaline and others and he hadn’t been feeling well with a virus, so he was a bit run down.”

Dale will undergo more tests when he visits a heart specialist on Monday.

He’s highly unlikely to play the final two rounds and has also carried an ankle injury.

St Kilda’s Dylan Roberton collapsed with an irregular heartbeat in April.