An AFL great believes Carlton has “a case to answer” regarding its handling of Harry McKay’s head knock on Sunday night.
In the third quarter of the Blues’ meeting with North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium, a leading McKay rose in a marking contest only to cop incidental contact from the back of Kangaroo Eddie Ford’s head.
McKay was visibly dazed following the collision, however he remained in the field of play for several minutes — in which time he kicked an important goal in the context of the match — before finally coming from the ground to undergo a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) with just seconds left in the term.
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“He doesn’t look good,” Richmond triple premiership forward Jack Riewoldt said in reaction. “Surely (the umpire stops play).”
Four-time Hawthorn flag-winner Jordan Lewis added: “You’d be stopping play, allowing the doctors to come on … (but) as a player, come off.”
At the time, Carlton’s doctors were in the rooms assessing teammate Blake Acres for a separate injury concern, meaning nobody was initially available to aid McKay.
Fox Footy host Anthony Hudson compared Sunday’s situation to recent incidents involving Geelong’s Jeremy Cameron and Port Adelaide’s Aliir Aliir.
“(McKay) cops this, he looks a bit disorientated (but) stays out there,” he explained on Fox Footy’s First Crack.
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“He then kicks that goal before he comes off for the HIA, which he passes and comes back on the ground. But, did we think that, somehow, he should have been off the ground well before that?”
There was no doubt in the mind of dual North Melbourne premiership player David King, who didn’t mince his words when offering his stance.
“We’re not taking it seriously if a player can stand up and wobble and not be taken from the field for an assessment,” King told the program.
“I don’t care what the player does in terms of thumbs up, ‘yeah, I’m fine’ — it’s not his call.
“We’ve flipped the game on its head with tackling and bumping, and every other small action is now costing three weeks instead of just ‘yep, let’s roll on’.
“We’ve stretched the fabric of our game to the nth degree (but) we allow this guy to appear concussed and play on for the next five minutes — it’s not good enough.
“We’re supposed to have an AFL representative in the ARC demand the player come off — where was that today? It took way too long — five minutes is too long. If we’re going to take this (concussion prevention) on from all angles, this is an easy starting point.
“I think Carlton have got a case to answer here, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the AFL comes down super hard on this tomorrow.”
Lewis held a similar opinion to King, lamenting the ‘system’ mere minutes after the incident.
“I still think there needs to be a better system — (McKay) was clearly shaken,” he said during Fox Footy’s broadcast.
“We can see him there, he does not look right, yet he has been on the ground for probably four or five minutes extra because we didn’t have a doctor or someone that could go out, assess the vision, and clearly see that he was shaken in that moment — we’ve left him out on the field.”
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At three-quarter-time, the 319-gamer doubled down on his displeasure.
“It was around six minutes (that he stayed out there),” he said. “You could see the discussions that were happening on the bench, he clearly looked shaken from that initial contest.
“That will be the issue out of this game, and the protocols and the (procedures) that were followed, but for mine and for Jack (Riewoldt), it was far too long.”
Post-game, Fox Footy’s Sarah Jones asked McKay how he was feeling.
“I’m good,” the Blues forward said. “It was nice to get a 10-minute break and then come back on — I was fine.
“I think it was more precautionary but I’m feeling really good, so all good.
“It’s not uncommon to get a few knocks on your shoulders and the back of your head, but I was fine straight away, kicked a goal, so I don’t reckon I could’ve done that if I wasn’t feeling too great.”
The expectation is the AFL will issue its stance on the incident on Monday.
Source Agencies
