Canberra Raiders star Corey Harawira-Naera leaves hospital after seizure during Rabbitohs clash
Canberra striker Corey Harawira-Naera has been released from hospital after collapsing and suffering a seizure during his team’s NRL match against South Sydney.
Harawira-Naera says he is ‘on the mend’ but ‘not yet free’ and will undergo further tests to get to the bottom of the terrifying incident at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
Shortly after a goal on Saturday night in the second half, Harawira-Naera appeared to become disoriented and fell to the turf.
The game stopped for more than 10 minutes as medical staff rushed onto the pitch and attended to the New Zealand international, who began to go into convulsions.
Harawira-Naera was conscious and reacted as he was transported off the field in an ambulance to a standing ovation from the crowd.
Raiders star Corey Harawira-Naera was attended to by medical staff after suffering a seizure during the side’s win over South Sydney in harrowing scenes
Thankfully, the Raiders striker (pictured left as he tries to escape Damien Cook’s clutches during the game) has since been released from hospital
He was carried off the pitch before being taken to hospital as the football world was in shock
Harawira-Naera traveled by ambulance to Westmead Hospital with his sister, who was a spectator at the game.
The New Zealand international was discharged around 3.30am on Sunday morning and shared a video update on his condition about eight hours later.
“I’m on the mend, not free yet, but we’ll do some more scans and find out,” Harawira-Naera said.
‘Health comes first, but of course I also hope to be able to get back on the field as soon as possible.’
Harawira-Naera thanked those who showed support after the medical episode.
“I’ve been lucky enough to receive a lot of messages about what happened last night,” he said.
“I’m doing a lot better now, so love to you all.”
No player was more concerned about Harawira-Naera on Saturday night than teammate Albert Hopoate, who had spent three years with the second rower.
Medicos sprang into action as soon as Harawira-Naera went down behind the game
The pair are close friends, FaceTiming or catching up most days, and the Raiders winger was visibly upset when Harawira-Naera went down.
“Obviously it was pretty scary at the time,” Hopoate told AAP.
“You don’t expect something like that to happen, especially in a game. There aren’t many words.’
Canberra captain Jarrod Croker dropped all thoughts of the match as his teammate was on the ground.
“I don’t think anyone was thinking about football that whole period, to be honest,” he said.
“Everyone just took care of Corey and did what we could.”
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart praised his players as well as South Sydney’s for rushing towards Harawira-Naera after he fell.
The players surrounded the 28-year-old to give the medical staff privacy while they worked on him.
Players from both sides were clearly in distress as the medics tended to the Kiwi star and surrounded him as he was treated to the ground to give him privacy.
“That’s when you see the real character of these footballers,” said Stuart.
“If one of the guys goes down, it doesn’t matter what team he’s on, everyone could get past that it was a serious situation.
βThere was a lot of concern for him. That is appreciated by all our players and club, however the Souths lads handled it.
“No one likes to see serious scenes like that.”
The Raiders regrouped after Harawira-Naera left the field and vowed to keep playing in his honor, eventually prevailing 33β26.
“Jarrod Croker, he’s our leader and Jamal Fogarty, those two are pretty good leaders and they always know what to say at times like these,” Hopoate said.
“We got confused after that and said we’d do it for Corey, and we did.”