{"id":877454,"date":"2026-09-02T13:18:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T13:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/877454\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T13:18:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T13:18:24","slug":"afl-carltons-cooper-lord-recalls-hospital-bed-scare-ahead-of-finals-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/877454\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL: Carlton\u2019s Cooper Lord recalls hospital bed scare ahead of finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooper Lord knew it was serious.<\/p>\n

The Carlton young gun was watching his teammates play Melbourne from a hospital bed ahead of surgery to remove a staph infection from his leg.<\/p>\n

What started as a painful pimple-sized lump under the skin near his hamstring overnight grew in size, pain and changed colour.<\/p>\n

The speed of how it had changed prompted an uncertainty in Lord.<\/p>\n

Staph is a bacterial condition that usually rests benignly on the skin, but it can turn severe once it enters the bloodstream and joints.<\/p>\n

Lord\u2019s staph was eventually removed but a challenging period remained: The wound needed to stay open and be treated regularly until fully healed.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old, preparing to face Geelong in this Friday\u2019s elimination final, says the difficult process is a reminder to appreciate sound health. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little bit scary,\u201d Lord admitted, opening up for the first time since the injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just got a severe infection in my leg which ended up needing surgery to get out of me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole healing process when you have an open wound in your leg is pretty solid, to be honest, I am grateful to be back out on the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen something like that happens, you don\u2019t take your health for granted, so it\u2019s been great to run out with the boys again.\u201d<\/p>\n

A staph infection enters through a break in the skin or mucous membranes.<\/p>\n

Lord\u2019s case was Carlton\u2019s fifth in the space of 18 months, prompting an investigation into the club\u2019s shared spaces.<\/p>\n

Lord wants to wait to reflect but remembers the process unfolding quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith an infection, you have to leave it open so they can clean it properly and make sure there\u2019s no more infection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again, the medical team here were amazing the way they supported me through that and helped me through those few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sort of all happened pretty quickly, but I remember the night before surgery I was watching the Melbourne game earlier in the year from a hospital bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just crazy how things change so quickly. As I reflect, I am sure I will do a bit more of that post the end of the season, but I\u2019m just happy to be out there and having fun alongside my best mates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lord is also grateful for Carlton\u2019s support during the harrowing experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am lucky, the club here is amazing, the medical staff is amazing coming into hospital to check in on me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty lucky to have all the support around me but yeah, definitely, it was challenging mentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut coming out of it, it made me a better player, ultimately, because you do certainly appreciate the moments you get to be at full health and play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlton coach Josh Fraser says Lord shows \u201ceverything you\u2019d want in a young player\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally diligent, disciplined, great character (and) works hard \u2013 everything you\u2019d want in a young player,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe maximises his talent, he\u2019s got parts of his game he\u2019s continuing to grow. We\u2019ve given him a couple of big assignments in the last fortnight and he\u2019s handled them really well. He\u2019s a guy that\u2019s been important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as AFL Finals: Carlton young gun Cooper Lord on the \u2018scary\u2019 leg injury that required an extended period in hospital<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cooper Lord knew it was serious. The Carlton young gun was watching his teammates play Melbourne from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[404594,446792,446822,446809,446812,401339,424920,446808,445496,376963,377674,446815,377373,381871,412330,379096,446789,409193,381610,446794,400063,638,76141,392659,417722,381656,380545,446816,446811,64,63,55,639,446784,6856,446803,446788,246589,446796,446797,446787,446823,525,13658,404610,446790,377222,404616,446791,446814,382034,377197,4082,3899,446799,27699,43818,446802,647,446818,446800,43961,446819,446798,205737,446820,78780,123914,446817,85,1369,446813,381635,23275,446785,382205,446821,215379,376549,74713,446786,417727,446804,446806,435657,387481,446805,377680,377486,377221,376868,356269,389603,446807,390303,214758,446810,438021,378969,446795,446801,411384,446793],"class_list":["post-877454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-s-case","tag-s-elimination-final","tag-s-fifth","tag-s-shared-spaces-lord","tag-s-staph","tag-s-support","tag-18-months","tag-a-bacterial-condition","tag-a-better-player","tag-a-bit","tag-a-break","tag-a-challenging-period","tag-a-couple","tag-a-guy","tag-a-hospital-bed","tag-a-little","tag-a-painful-pimple-sized-lump","tag-a-reminder","tag-a-severe-infection","tag-a-staph-infection","tag-a-young-player","tag-afl","tag-afl-finals","tag-all-the-support","tag-an-extended-period","tag-an-infection","tag-an-investigation","tag-an-open-wound","tag-an-uncertainty","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-big-assignments","tag-carlton","tag-carlton-coach-josh-fraser","tag-carlton-young-gun-cooper-lord","tag-cooper-lord","tag-diligent","tag-disciplined","tag-full-health","tag-fully-healed-the-21-year-old","tag-fun","tag-geelong","tag-great-character","tag-hard-everything","tag-his-game","tag-his-hamstring","tag-his-harrowing-infection","tag-his-leg-what","tag-his-talent","tag-his-teammates","tag-hospital","tag-injury","tag-joints-lord","tag-leg-injury","tag-lord","tag-lord-staph","tag-melbourne","tag-my-best-mates","tag-my-leg","tag-newswire-sport","tag-no-more-infection","tag-pain-and-changed-colour-the-speed","tag-parts","tag-rising-blue","tag-scary","tag-size","tag-sound-health","tag-sports","tag-surgery","tag-that-post","tag-the-bloodstream","tag-the-boys","tag-the-carlton-young-gun","tag-the-club","tag-the-difficult-process","tag-the-end","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-game","tag-the-harrowing-experience","tag-the-injury","tag-the-knife","tag-the-last-fortnight","tag-the-medical-staff","tag-the-medical-team","tag-the-melbourne-game","tag-the-moments","tag-the-night","tag-the-park","tag-the-process","tag-the-season","tag-the-skin","tag-the-skin-or-mucous-membranes-lord","tag-the-space","tag-the-way","tag-the-whole-healing-process","tag-the-wound","tag-the-year","tag-this-friday","tag-those-few-weeks","tag-your-health","tag-your-leg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877454","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=877454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}