Broken bone in back ends Colin O’Riordan’s Sydney Swans campaign

Colin O’Riordan will have to wait until 2017 to resume his AFL career with the Sydney Swans after confirming that he sustained a broken bone in his back and a punctured lung in a recent outing in Darwin.

Tipperary native O’Riordan, whose displays Down Under have earned him a place in the NEAFL team of the year, was hit with a knee in the back playing for the Swans in the North East AFL against NT Thunder, a combination side from the Northern Territory.

O’Riordan was contesting for a mark with an opponent when he was involved in the “frightening” collision but remarkably, he went back on after an initial check.