A WAFL player has been referred to the league's tribunal over the incident that saw an East Perth reserves player taken to hospital with serious spinal injuries.

West Perth's Mitchell Antonio will face a change of careless conduct against Beau Chatley.

In a statement, the WAFL said that in the interests of player welfare, the tribunal hearing would be closed.

Chatley, 21, suffered damage to his neck and spinal cord after he was tackled, and had emergency surgery on Saturday night.

Chatley's condition had improved on Monday morning and East Perth released a statement saying that he was still in the intensive care unit in hospital but in a stable condition.

He was taken off a respirator on Sunday night and was breathing unassisted.

Chatley had also asked for, and eaten, food for the first time on Monday morning and had slight movement in his right hand.

West Coast midfielder Luke Shuey told reporters on Monday the injury was tragic and alarming, but he was unsure what more could be done to protect players.

East Perth is the Eagles' WAFL affiliate and West Coast rookie Jordan Snadden was playing in the reserves game while 12 other Eagles squad members were at the ground preparing for the league game that followed.

Shuey had not seen the vision of the incident but said Eagles players were aware of the circumstances of the injury.

"It's quite alarming, especially as a player," he said.

"You don't think about it on game day, but when this stuff happens, it certainly is a wake-up call. You don't go out on game day hoping not to get injured like that. It's not something you think of.

"I don't know what more the AFL or the football community can do to stop it.

"We keep bringing in new rules to stop head-high bumping and harsher penalties for head-high bumping.

"I think the game's doing a lot to protect players. But unfortunately unlucky things like the incident on the weekend, we're seeing maybe one a year at the moment, two a year. So it's sad."