Koby Stevens at St Kilda training. Pic: Michael Klein
ST KILDA midfielder Koby Stevens has revealed the Saints narrowly escaped the mysterious “sea lice” that left a Melbourne teenager’s legs bleeding profusely.
Sam Kanizay went for beach recovery at Dendy Street Beach in Brighton on Saturday evening and came out of the water to find both legs bleeding.
The 16-year-old was rushed to hospital to stop the bleeding from “pin holes” on his legs — with small sea creatures believed to have bitten through his skin.
“It sort of looked like hundreds of little pin holes, or pin-type bites, distributed all over my ankle and the top of my foot,” Kanizay told 3AW on Monday.
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Stevens revealed he — and teammate Sam Gilbert — were on their way to the beach when St Kilda’s high performance manager warned them off.
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“I’ve still got my feet today,” Stevens said at a press conference on Monday.
“Me and Sammy Gilbert were actually on our way down to the beach and we got the email from Matt Hornsby, our fitness guy, telling us not to go in.
“The whole group got the message of the young bloke who nearly had his feet eaten off down at the beach.”
Kanizay’s story has had local beachgoers wary — especially after his father Jarrod posted a video of the tiny sea creatures violently attacking a net full of raw meat.
Sam Kanizay in a Melbourne Hospital after sustaining suspected bites from ‘tiny marine creatures’ at a local bay. (AAP Image/Jarrod Kanizay)Source:AAP
Sam Kanizay in a Melbourne Hospital after sustaining suspected bites from ‘tiny marine creatures’ at a local bay. (AAP Image/Jarrod Kanizay)Source:AAP
With a large number of St Kilda players living in the Bayside region — despite the club’s Seaford training base — the Saints clearly weren’t keen on taking any risks.
Stevens said he’d already been wary about the trip to the beach, after a friend had ended up with bleeding feet a couple of weeks earlier.
“A couple of weeks back one of my mates was down the water and he came out with blood on his feet as well,” he said.
“You really need your feet for this game, so we were advised not go down there.”
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Originally published as ‘I’ve still got my feet’: Saint’s scary near-miss
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