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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n A young Epping footballer is receiving end-of-life care after a tragic incident during a suburban match in Melbourne\u2019s north at the weekend.<\/p>\n Nathan Fitzgerald knocked heads with another player during a tackle before his head hit the ground on a synthetic cricket patch, according to Epping Football Netball Club president Luke De Vincentis.<\/p>\n The incident happened during the reserves match with Lalor at Lalor Football Club on Sydney Court in the early afternoon on Saturday.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old\u2019s condition worsened overnight, according to a social media post from his club on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are devastated to share that our much loved teammate [and] clubman Nathan Fitzgerald\u2019s condition deteriorated overnight and [he] is now receiving end-of-life care,\u201d the Epping Football Netball Club said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe entire Fitzgerald family is in our thoughts during this horrible situation, and we ask that you respect their privacy. Please take a moment to hug & kiss your loved ones; life is precious.\u201d<\/p>\n The club held an event to honour \u201cFitzy\u201d on Sunday, after which they shared the devastating update.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile he\u2019s really tenacious on the field, he\u2019s a gentleman off the field,\u201d De Vincentis.<\/p>\n Police confirmed a 27-year-old man had sustained a serious head injury during the game on Saturday, but that there was \u201cno evidence of criminality during the incident\u201d.<\/p>\n An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said emergency services responded to a call at 12.55pm and transported one patient in a critical condition to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.<\/p>\n The match was abandoned after the third-quarter incident.<\/p>\n In a statement later on Saturday, Epping Football Netball Club said both the reserves and senior games had been cancelled.<\/p>\n In their own statement on Saturday evening, the Lalor Football Netball Club said they wished the injured player, who remains in a critical condition in hospital, a \u201cspeedy recovery\u201d.<\/p>\n Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts<\/a> on email or turn on notifications in the app.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Epping](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a577a60e496a0ba45669114c9305f8f9db4a3a.jpeg\")
Epping footballer Nathan Fitzgerald sustained the life-threatening injuries while playing on Saturday.<\/p>\n![\"Caroline](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/06fa76a02da0ea72f813d704e42fc410aebdab64.png\")
Caroline Schelle<\/a> is an education reporter, and joined The Age in 2022. She previously covered courts at AAP.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-780410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}