Year 11 student Tyler Horton was airlifted to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition on Thursday afternoon and placed in an induced coma after receiving a head knock in the match against Dubbo.

Tyler, 16, collapsed on the sidelines of the match at Carrington Park. 

His mother Paula Horton yesterday described the harrowing hours after they arrived at Westmead, when Tyler was taken into surgery to have part of his skull removed before he was placed in an induced coma.

"When we arrived in the chopper he went straight into surgery. He had a major bleed in the brain and the pressure had to be released,” she said.

Mrs Horton said Tyler had been woken up from his coma on Saturday morning and was making a good recovery. 

"He is going quite amazingly, he is really well," she said.

"He was bought out of his coma on Saturday morning, by lunch they had taken off his breathing machine. He was quite alert and everything was functioning really well when he woke up."

Mrs Horton said that by Sunday morning Tyler had his brain pressure monitor turned off and was moved from the intensive care unit to the general neurology ward yesterday morning.