Collingwood defender Alan Toovey has headed home and is recovering well after spending three nights in Epworth hospital.

The courageous 2010 premiership player suffered bruising to his chest after a heavy collision with Geelong’s Tom Hawkins during the third quarter of the Magpies’ three-point loss on Friday night, and spent the weekend under observation (Click here to watch the incident).

Toovey left the hospital on Monday morning in good spirits and is confident he won’t miss too much football.

“I’m feeling much better today, which is good. I had some considerable bruising on my chest and some bleeding on the lungs, so the doctors wanted that to settle down,” the 24-year-old said.

He explained his decision to run back with the flight of the ball, which resulted in his heavy collision with Hawkins. Play was stopped for a few minutes while Toovey was stretchered from the field.

He was taken to hospital by ambulance at three-quarter time.

“I heard a voice telling me to run back and contest so I decided I had to go. I thought I was in the clear, but obviously I wasn’t.

“I never lost consciousness. I was just in a fair bit of pain because of the impact to my chest, and I had the wind knocked out of me in a fairly big way.

“Plenty of the boys came in to visit me over the weekend so that was good. It’s good now to be on my way home.

“I’ll head into the club tomorrow and discuss with the doctors what the program is from here, but I’m confident I’ll be back playing soon. I’m feeling a lot better.”

Toovey, who is one of the many success stories of the rookie-list system at Collingwood, has played 74 career games since debuting in round three of the 2007 season, and has become of the most important parts of the Magpies’ defensive unit. His run of 55 consecutive games, a streak that began in round four, 2009, is under threat due to this injury setback.