Magpies match delayed for an hour after midfielder suffers serious injury

Mitchell suffered the injury after being tackled by a Saints opponent.

There was no malice in the incident which was an accident and happened at the 18-minute mark of the second term.

Trainers from both sides attended to Mitchell and chose not to move him until an ambulance arrived.

The ambulance took an hour to arrive at Urana Road Oval.

Experienced whistleblower Ken Wright was one of the officiating umpires at the match and said he was "concerned" for the welfare of Mitchell.

"I was a bit concerned for the player because the ambulance took an hour to arrive," Wright said.

"He was in a state of shock and was in and out of consciousness.

"They had to get the oxygen mask on him which only added to my concern.

"The incident was just an accident.

"The player went to run off after it but just collapsed onto the ground.

"He was only five metres away from the boundary line but the trainers didn't want to move him and we decided to call half-time early.

"I couldn't believe it when they said the ambulance would be at least 40 minutes, which turned out to be an hour."

Wright said Magpie officials were keen to abandon the rest of the match after they were leading 6.4 (40) to 6.1 (37) at the time of the incident.

"The Magpies wanted to call the match off because they were in front but I wasn't having any of that," Wright said.

"By the time the ambulance arrived it was 4pm, so we resumed the match and played two 15-minute quarters in the second half.

"The match was played in good spirits.

"But it still begs the question of the waiting time for an ambulance.

"You wouldn't think it would be an hour wait, especially considering it was in Lavington."

The Saints threatened to cause an upset against the Magpies before the incident after leading by 16 points at quarter time.

But Luke Bramley, Colin Wilson and Byron Kohler lifted their workrate after the first break to ensure the Magpies were within striking distance at half-time.

Magpie defenders Dylan Dos Santos and Josh Senior led a miserly defence which restricted the Saints to two goals after they booted five goals in the first term.

Nicholas Brown, Liam Lisle and Kobie Rahilly were the visitor's best.