After kicking four first half goals and clearly being the standout forward for North Melbourne, Thomas was embroiled in a heated exchange with Magpies’ players after choosing to block Reid in the third quarter.
“Yeah it was one of those unfortunate things I guess,” Thomas told NMFC.com.au.
“I saw Lachie Hansen running onto the footy and I was kind of running towards him…probably that last spilt decision I made was to shepherd Ben Reid and look unfortunately, we collided heads and it was just one of those unfortunate things and we both hit heads, we both went down.”
To watch the full interview PRESS PLAY above | YouTube
Thomas admits to being ‘dazed’ as he tried to recover from the collision and says he was concerned for Reid’s welfare.
“Unfortunately for him, he didn’t come back on, he was knocked out (and) I come (sic) off with a pretty sore cheek and look, I’m just happy that he’s alright.
“Definitely, I hoped he was okay, like I said, it was just an accident and in terms of ‘heat of the moment’, it got a bit heated there towards the end but that’s footy…after the game we all shook hands and got on with it…I hoped he was alright and by all reports he is.”
The 25-year-old had some nervous moments on Monday awaiting the Match Review Panel’s finding.
“I didn’t really think about it too much after the game, I thought there wasn’t really much in it but after looking at it yesterday, I did think I was in a bit of strife. I’m just happy that I don’t have to miss any games of footy, obviously I missed five games last year through suspension, so look I’m just really happy that I get to run out with my team-mates this week and pull on that guernsey, so I’m really happy.
“…if our heads didn’t collide (we) probably wouldn’t have heard too much about the whole situation, but look our heads did collide and he did get knocked out, so it’s in the rules that if you do bump and someone gets hurt, it’s gonna get looked at."
To watch the full interview PRESS PLAY above | YouTube
