It looks like the Balwyn Tigers will be without their star player Chevy Anderson for some time.
Anderson will be forced to watch his local footy team from the sidelines after suffering horrific face injuries as a result of a one-punch attack.
And the injures are so bad that the 27-year-old will have to undergo surgery on his own birthday.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Anderson was assaulted outside Richmond's Swan Hotel after trying to break up a fight.
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It's understood one man then turned on Anderson and coward-punched him before exiting the scene.
Reports allege the victim was actually walking away and had his back turned at the time of the attack.
"He fell straight back onto his head and was out for a few seconds," Anderson's Balwyn Tigers teammate Jye Chirgwin told Nine News.
"And then as he started getting up, that's when the blood started coming everywhere and he's fallen back over."
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Thankfully an ambulance was passing by at the time and Anderson was rushed to hospital.
Doctors later confirmed that the footy player had, in fact, suffered multiple facial fractures as well as a broken nose in three places.
Melbourne police have now arrested two men in relation to the vile attack.
As for Anderson, he'll be sidelined for quite some time as he recovers from his injuries.
But in the meantime, Anderson's team have come out and thrown their support behind him while also condemning the rising number of one-punch attacks in recent years.
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"He (Andersen) clearly could have died, it's quite simple," Balwyn Tigers president Richard Wilson told the Herald Sun.
"It's a miracle he didn't become a statistic of these coward, king-hit punches.
"This behaviour and the violence in society has to stop. The football leagues, the AFL, the VFL and the local leagues need to play a role.
"Hopefully people who do this are appropriately dealt with through the courts."
Featured Image Credit: Nine NewsTopics: footy, Aussie Rules, afl, Australia
