Australian Football League player Tom Lonergan has had a kidney removed and is in an induced coma at Geelong Hospital after being involved in a heavy on-field collision during his side Geelong's match against Melbourne on Saturday.

The collision occurred in the final quarter of the drawn game at Geelong’s Skilled Stadium after the 22-year old crashed into on-coming traffic in a marking contest.

Lonergan, in his seventh AFL game, running with the flight of the ball overhead, leaped high to take the mark but was hit by two players running in the direction of the ball, Lonergan colliding heavily with Melbourne’s Brad Miller.

Lonergan was able to walk from the field straight afterwards but was taken to hospital where we spent the night in intensive care after bleeding was found in his kidney.

Lonergan’s condition deteriorated early on Sunday morning, so much so that he was rushed for emergency surgery. Doctors decided to remove the kidney after heavy internal bleeding was detected

“About 3am on Sunday morning his blood pressure was dropping and a quick decision was made to take him to theatre and it was found he had lost about three litres of blood,' Geelong club doctor Chris Bradshaw told the media on Sunday. 

"So there was a fair bit of bleeding and it necessitated in taking out his kidney and that happened in about a six hour procedure on Sunday morning."  Bradshaw said, adding the human body held "around five litres of blood.”  

"He was being monitored carefully and the minute his blood pressure started dropping, they acted quickly." Bradshaw said.

Lonergan is expected to make a full recovery long term and is expected to be induced out of his coma after follow up surgery.

Australian Rules Football is a physically demanding and sometime brutal sport that requires its participants to endure heavy physical contact. Injuries to hamstrings, knees and shoulders are not uncommon but luckily injuries to the gravity to that suffered by Lonergan are rare and it is believed that this type of injury has not occurred in the sport for 15 years.