Melbourne defender Jake Lever has explained why he suddenly collapsed during a pre-season training session earlier this week, simply putting it down to “a little bit of bad luck”.
Lever sent a scare through the Demons’ camp when he collapsed on the training track following a gruelling running drill, and was immediately attended to by club doctors.
Despite the initial scare, the 25-year-old was able to walk off the track under his own power and laughed off the severity of the incident when talking to reporters on Wednesday.
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“The tests are designed to be pretty hard. I ran a PB (personal best) for my first two times and went a little bit hard in the first couple of runs,” Lever said after another session.
“I am not the first person to faint after giving it their all and I don’t think I’m going to be the last. It was a little bit of bad luck.
“I laid down first after that third effort and when I went to get back up, I don’t think that was a very good idea, so I won’t be doing that again, that’s for sure.
“The first shock came when they read out my time for the first lap that I did. I couldn’t believe I got that fast. After that I went a little bit too hard, and it backfired a little bit.”
After joining Melbourne at the end of 2017, Lever played a vital role in the club’s drought-breaking premiership, named in the 2021 All-Australian team.
Melbourne is now in the unusual position of being the hunted after years of doing the hunting, but Lever said he had his teammates were ready.
“Last year we were hunting every other team and we understood we didn’t have any right to be where we were. We were just working so hard the results were coming our way,” he said.
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“It’s going to be no different next year. Teams are coming back fitter, stronger, they are going to hunt us and we are going to embrace that challenge.”
Melbourne will open its 2021 season with a grand final rematch against the Western Bulldogs in Round 1.