Comedian Dave Hughes rushed to hospital with punctured lung after Legends game

3 weeks ago 9

Comedian Dave Hughes was rushed to hospital with multiple cracked ribs and a punctured lung after he was crunched during Thursday night’s Legends football match at Marvel Stadium.

Hughes, 54, was cleared of a lacerated spleen, after a series of body-jarring clashes during the charity game, which raised funds for prostate cancer research.

Hughes, however, still attended the post-match function, and it wasn’t until early Friday morning that Hughes’ wife, Holly, realised something was wrong.

She drove Hughes to hospital, where he was immediately treated. He remains in a “reasonably serious” condition.

“The verdict is, three cracked ribs and a slightly punctured lung which he thinks happened in the first hit. Then he has been cleaned up a couple of times after that,” Holly Hughes said.

Dave Hughes later said he had five cracked ribs.

Hughes was involved in clashes with Andrew Embley, Dan Gorringe and Mitch Robinson, but it was unclear which bump did the damage.

Dave Hughes was seriously hurt in the Legends Match at Marvel Stadium on Thursday.

Former Carlton and Brisbane star Brendan Fevola said he was near Hughes when he was injured.

“I got real worried because … I went to pick him up off the ground and he couldn’t breathe. [Hughes said]: ‘I am in real pain. Don’t pick me up, let me get up myself’,” Fevola told his breakfast radio show on Fox.

“I reckon that’s when it happened, he literally could not get up off the ground. [Hughes said]: ‘Don’t touch me, don’t touch me’. He was laying there, a few people thought he was putting it on, but I thought he was in trouble.”

Holly Hughes said her husband had been in pain in bed at home.

“It was not a good sound and I was like: ‘Babe, I think we need to call an ambulance’,” Hughes said.

“And he was like: ‘Nah, I am fine, I am just a bit sore’.”

While his ribs and lung will take time to heal, Hughes has escaped a spleen injury.

“In the end, the spleen looks OK. He has had an x-ray, he has had a CT scan,” Holly Hughes said.

Victoria coach Tim Watson and Dave Hughes.

All-Stars coach Shane Crawford had joked to his players pre-match that they needed to rough up the typically cheery Hughes.

“I want him to never put up his hand again [to play], so I want everyone to tackle him at some stage,” Crawford said.

Holly Hughes said her husband had been the oldest player on the field.

“It’s all fun and games to target Hughsey, but I think he was the oldest person out there. He is very lean at the moment,” she said.

After a six-year hiatus, the Legends Match was revived with a wave of fresh stars representing Victoria and the All Stars, a contest that carries the legacy of E.J. Whitten to help raise awareness and vital funds for prostate cancer research.

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