An orthopedic surgeon on hand has given promising Launceston state talent Josh Commins the all clear of any serious injury after a nasty head fall on Saturday.
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But the 16-year-old will be in grave doubt for Tasmania’s final preliminary game less than 24 hours later.
The Queechy Penguins star hit the ground in an incidental collision with a teammate, just minutes from the end of his side’s crucial clash with Western Australia.
Commins’s head hit the hard synthetic surface with 3:20 left in the game at the Northern Hockey Centre.
The match was stopped for close to 10 minutes before Commins was helped off the pitch amid gingerly walking off to the bench.
Overshadowing the final result, Samuel Porteus-Smith goaled moments after the incident to bring the Tasmanians back to a 5-2 loss.
The home side had scored twice in the final five minutes after the West Australians showed their class with five unanswered goals.
Tasmanian vice-captain Joseph Murphy said his side knew what they were up against facing up to the tournament’s perennial title favourites every year.
“It’s always hard going up against Western Australia, but we had a pretty strong side,” Murphy said.
“We really thought we’d really give it to them, but it just didn’t go our way.”
Harry Golding was the star for the winners, scoring three times to run the Tasmanian defence ragged.
Murphy, originally from Burnie, moved to Hobart recently to further advance his hockey career.
The 18-year-old said the scoreless first 65 minutes was a testament to their opponents’ sublime defence.
“We did try to do a couple of different things, like not going through the middle, try to change things up and get around their defence,” Murphy said.
Tasmania meets South Australia on Sunday before the knockout phase of the tournament.