League: Warriors' hero in world of his own after collision

Warriors winger Kevin Locke was bopping along to stadium tunes only he could hear on Sunday night.

Agonising pain from a collision with a goalpost as he scored his third try against the Sydney Roosters meant he had checked out mentally well before he physically left AMI Stadium in Christchurch.

When the 20,000-strong crowd applauded him as he was taken off the field on a stretcher, the 21-year-old joined in. But he didn't really know why he was clapping.

"By that stage I didn't know where I was, to be honest," he said yesterday.

"I didn't realise I'd scored the winning try. I didn't even think I was at the game. I was all dizzy and felt tingly. I thought I was at a concert because everyone was yelling, everyone was clapping, so I thought I would, too."

Team doctor John Mayhew says x-rays have cleared Locke of any fracture but he has a medial ligament strain in his left knee.

Yesterday, the 79kg back was moving like an old man - sitting down for any length of time means he starts seizing up, and nasty-looking bruises on his back, upper thigh and abs are making themselves felt.

Video replays show Locke diving on his own toe-through, while a chasing Roosters player collects him on the ground. The momentum forces him into the padded steel goalpost for an eventual 20-18 win.

Commentators called it "sickening" and praised the way the Warrior put his body on the line.

"I was biting the grass, it was so bad. I didn't think I'd broken anything because I didn't hear anything crack, but it was the worst. Mum [Ora Locke] was pretty upset - she wanted to fly down that night."

For the win, though, and a pretty impressive return to form, it was all worth it, he said.

Locke was kept overnight in Christchurch Hospital and has only nice things to say about the people who warmed him up after the match, which was played in miserable conditions.

"I just want to say thank you to St John and the hospital staff. I was freezing. [During the game] they were giving us these hot packs, but they did nothing. They gave me all the blankets I think they had in the hospital. I was stacked."

The Vodafone Warriors' medical team will assess Locke's injuries over the next 72 hours before a decision is made about his return to playing.