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AFL legend Doug Hawkins has revealed he was rushed to hospital this week after being struck by lightning throughout a freak storm.
Hawkins, a former Western Bulldogs and Footscray champion, stated the incident “scared the hell out of him.”
Now 62, Hawkins was engaged on web site in Yarraville, in Melbourne’s inner-west, when the skies darkened and a freak thunderstorm hit early on Thursday.
“I used to be too scared to get out of the field,” he advised Melbourne’s 3AW radio.
“[It] scared the c-p [out of me].
“That was essentially the most scary expertise I’ve ever, ever had, significantly when the field began to shake.
“It was the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard in my life. It simply went ‘bang’ and hastily the entire field shook for about 10 seconds.
“I used to be too scared to get out of the field and go to my automotive.”
As much as 13 millimeters of rain fell throughout Melbourne from about 8am on Thursday, because the shock storm cell smashed Geelong and surrounds and moved east in the direction of the town. However greater than rain, the storm additionally introduced lightning, with greater than 10,000 lightning strikes in lower than an hour because it moved throughout Melbourne.
Hawkins stated he felt “light-headed and unwell” because the field shook in the course of the hit.
He in contrast the expertise to taking part in towards one other star from the 1980s – Hawthorn Brownlow medalist and well-known exhausting nut Robert DiPierdomenico.
“It was nearly worse than taking part in on Dipper within the 1980s and never realizing the place he was. That is how unhealthy it was,” he stated.
“It truly scared the crap out of me.”
After plucking up the braveness to go away his field, Hawkins was taken to close by Footscray hospital to have scans and his coronary heart checked.
“It was like a delayed response,” he stated.
“I stated I am not feeling too nice. I am a bit light-headed and I’ve obtained these shivers up my left arm.”
However Friday morning he was blissful to report that he was “again up and about”.
Hawkins performed greater than 350 AFL/VFL video games and was captain of the Western Bulldogs from 1990-93.
