Melbourne Storm player hospitalised after being found on doorstep
Melbourne have confirmed young NRL hooker Harry Grant was found injured on a house doorstep on Monday morning after falling over while drunk.
The 21-year-old was taken to hospital for facial cuts and further tests but there was no police involvement in the incident.
Grant, who wasn't involved in the Storm's NRL preliminary final loss to Sydney Roosters on Saturday night, was found on the doorstep of a Richmond house with an ambulance called.
Melbourne's head of football Frank Ponissi said Grant, who played two NRL games in 2018, had had a "nasty fall" on his way home from a night out.
"Harry's a great kid who obviously had a bit too much to drink and had a nasty fall," Ponissi said.
"As a club we understand the importance of responsible consumption of alcohol but other than that (being drunk) nothing untoward whatsoever occurred except he's had a bad fall."
Grant was expected to leave hospital on Monday.
"He will continue to be supported by Storm medical and player well-being staff," the club said.
The NRL integrity unit has been made aware of an incident.
The event came to light through radio station 3AW's "rumour file" on their Monday morning program with Ross Stevenson and John Burns.
"Late #rumourfile - we are told that a bloke has woken up in Richmond this morning to find an NRL player on their front doorstep, they felt the need to call an ambulance for that player," 3AW's Ross and John program tweeted.
The Storm players who bowed out of the finals race on Saturday night were gathering in Melbourne for their Mad Monday celebrations.
Storm’s season ended by Roosters
Melbourne produced arguably the best regular season in their history, but will walk away with only a minor premiership and no grand final appearance.
They dropped just four matches in the home-and-away season, the biggest of them by four points to Canberra in round 22.
Their defence was as good as any team this decade, as they conceded only 300 points along the way.
So good were they, they finished three wins clear of the next best.
But when it mattered in the preliminary finals, the Sydney Roosters were just too good.
The Storm threw plenty at them in attack. They had the better of the ball in the second half and all the momentum.
But the Rooters held firm. Time and time again to win it 14-6.
Right down to the point James Tedesco held Brandon Smith up with just minutes to go to virtually wrap up the win.
"It doesn't make it harder," coach Craig Bellamy said.
"It's a new competition. There are a lot of things that can happen through the last month. We've had a bit of an up and down through this month.
"I just said to the players I couldn't be more proud of what they did this year. If we had our time again we might have done a bit different in September.
"Especially with our starts in the two games we lost. But what we did through the year I am ultra proud of them.
"We had a younger squad this year, and to do what they did through the year was quite exceptional."
with AAP