An AFL great has called for a revamp of the way concussion is managed in-game, proposing for the League to “take it out of clubs’ hands”.
The AFL issued please explain letters to three clubs on Monday in relation to the management of separate concussion management protocols over the weekend.
It comes as the League cracks down on dangerous tackles and takes a stronger approach to the management of concussion in 2024.
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Collingwood champion Nathan Buckley believes there are two ways in which the AFL can improve the handling of concussion, which continues to dominate discussions.
“I think there’s two particular areas that the AFL can attack in improving these circumstances,” Buckley began on Fox Footy’s On the Couch.
“One is with the laws of the game and what happens in game, the other is what you actually do with the player who’s received the head knock,” he said.
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Buckley highlighted an incident involving Carlton’s Harry McKay from the clash against North Melbourne.
McKay was left visibly dazed after a marking contest with Kangaroo Eddie Ford, however, remained in the field of play for several minutes before finally coming from the ground to undergo a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) with just seconds left in the term.
“Harry McKay’s one, that one to me is an opportunity for the AFL to put the right processes in place,” Buckley said.
“The players that have come up with class actions, if you read through their transcripts, it’s not about the contact they receive while playing the game, it’s how they’ve been managed, pushed back out and maybe not given due time to recover after the fact.”
Buckley said it was time the AFL stepped in and took it out of the clubs’ hands, proposing an independent spotter to be at every AFL match.
“Don’t leave it in the clubs’ hands. As soon as you see a player who’s been stunned, his teammates, the opposition player, the umpire himself, took time to have a look at Harry struggling to get himself up off the deck. He was dazed, I reckon the spotter in the crowd, take it out of the clubs’ hands.
“The AFL, tell the umpire, that player needs to go off to get assessed. If there’s nothing to it, he’s back on in 60-90 seconds, if there is something to it, he has the assessment.”
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Brisbane Lions champion and co-panellist Jonathan Brown asked: “You’d cut out the 15 minutes?” in relation to the mandatory ‘wait time’ involved before a player can return to play after having undergone a concussion test.
“You’d cut out the part you’re waiting for the doctor to be there, you wait for the part where the runner asks if you’re alright… the AFL need to control this because it’s the management of these issues, not the cause of them that the class action is occurring around, that’s where we need to put our time,” Buckley replied.
Melbourne champion Garry Lyon echoed Buckley’s sentiments, saying “don’t start the game until the stunned player is off”.
Brown said the League should start treating concussion “like the blood rule”.
“It should be as simple as the blood rule,” he said.
“There’s pressure on the clubs as well about taking a player off when they have to wait for a long period of time, should that be scrapped?”
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Buckley highlighted how 18 different doctors, and 18 different clubs means there can be inconsistencies in how concussion management is handled.
“You leave it to clubs, there’s 18 different clubs, 18 different club doctors, there’s slightly different interpretations and thresholds on what they act on and what they don’t,” he continued.
“If you’ve copped a head knock, you come off for a HIA. If a doctor looks as it and says it’s clear he can go back on, but it shouldn’t happen on the ground.
“We can fix that like that.”
Source Agencies
