Not sure where this would fit.
Old news but since this is a good ending story to easier everyone nerves before the much anticipated draft.
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  • Dogs supporter Rob McCarthy received CPR in time with team song
  • ‘Too perfect to be true,’ says astonished onlooker after man was revived




AFL premiership celebrations were simple for most Western Bulldogs fans but among them was 64-year-old supporter Rob McCarthy, who suffered a near-fatal heart attack in the final 10 minutes of the game. Photograph: Julian Smith/AAP

A lifelong Western Bulldogs supporter who suffered a near-fatal heart attack in the aisles of the MCG in the final minutes of his side’s AFL grand final win is recovering in hospital.

Having spent the tense final stages of the game talking away happily with a stranger beside him, 64-year-old Rob McCarthy had to be administered CPR by nearby fans until the arrival of official paramedics at the MCG. According to an ABC report, McCarthy’s first words upon his resuscitation were, “Did the Doggies win?”

The episode has been chronicled in remarkable detail on The Footy Almanac website by Essendon supporter Jim Ingram, who was sitting next to McCarthy when near-disaster struck.

At three-quarter time of the game, Ingram said, McCarthy “looked at me and, pumping his chest with his fist, he joked, ‘they’d wanna have an ambo parked out the front if we get up’. I laughed, pointed at him and openly joked, ‘don’t you go dying on me mate’.”

But the warning proved prophetic. With 10 minutes to play in the game and the Bulldogs firming as favourites to complete their fairytale premiership after a 62-year wait, McCarthy “stiffened in his seat” and suffered a heart attack, before off-duty paramedic and Richmond fan Liam Moore arrived from a nearby seat and started administering CPR.

“He had a weak pulse at that stage but that quickly disappeared so we got someone to get him down on the ground and we started CPR,” Moore told Ambulance Victoria. “When I got there he still had a pulse so I knew we had a chance.”

As the siren sounded and the Bulldogs’ team song started playing, according to Ingram, there was an eerie sight: “If I hadn’t watched it with my own eyes, I’d call it too perfect to be true,” Ingram said, “but I noticed the rhythm of the man administering CPR was in perfect timing to the beat of the Bulldog’s song.”

With the arrival of the ground’s official paramedics, McCarthy was soon revived, sitting upright and gingerly joining in celebrations for his long-suffering team, but if it wasn’t for the presence of a defibrillator nearby and live-saving surgery in the aftermath, the story might been far worse for the Dogs fan.

McCarthy has since received treatment at the Epworth Hospital, where he was reunited with the men and women who helped save his life. “I wanted to see Liam and they all saved my life. It’s emotional, I can’t describe it. It’s phenomenal,” he told Ambulance Victoria. “I am a very lucky guy and I love them all.”

At the very least, both McCarthy and the man sitting next to him have a truly unique story to tell of being there on the Dogs’ momentous day. “When Rob finally sat up from the concrete, blinked and looked around, the almighty roar that erupted from within our small group was something to behold. If the ‘G had a roof, it would’ve been blown clean off,” Ingram said.

“As the song goes, ‘you can’t beat the boys of the Bulldogs breed,’ and Rob is living proof.”

A Facebook post by McCarthy’s daughter Bec Ross, sent to the official Melbourne Cricket Ground page, has since gone viral, attracting over 8,100 likes. “Want to thank the staff at the MCG in particular the AFL doctor who saved my father’s life today and travelled in the ambulance with him,” it said. “Thanks to the patrons and staff’s quick thinking he was brought back to life and is going to be okay. Thank you so much. Go doggies!”