The AFL is yet to reveal who was behind the call to remove Hawks star Nick Watson from the game after his nasty head knock in Tasmania.
Watson bravely went back with the flight and made contact with Crows defender Jordon Butts who was coming the other way.
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The contact resulted in a whiplash-like action where Watson’s head then crashed into the UTAS Stadium turf in the second quarter of his side’s win over Adelaide.
But Watson was allowed to remain out on the field for almost four minutes – even getting involved in subsequent plays – before he was taken for a concussion test.
Watson then did pass that test at half time.
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Speaking after the match, Fox Footy’s Jon Ralph questioned whether Watson’s removal happened in a timely manner.
“I’ve spoken to the AFL and they won’t go into the specifics about whether it was Hawthorn or the AFL ARC that actually intervened there,” he shared.
“Their view is there is no strict time line on a player’s removal – the doctors should move at pace to get a player off.
“They wouldn’t clarify the exact specifics of that process.
“But it took about three minutes and 50 seconds from the incident to the doctor eventually taking him off.
“The doctor comes out to him pretty quickly and he seems to give him the OK.
“And then you can see the medicos are looking at the vision. Eventually he comes off.
“I think the issue here is because he was on the ground for nearly four minutes, he was involved in a couple of contests there. “As we know, there is a capacity for concussed players to suffer some of those issues and be more at risk.
“Three minutes 50, three minutes 45… I think all of us who saw that replay immediately knew he had to come off the ground.
“We’ve come a long way … but do you think that now in the modern age he should be off quicker in say just less than four minutes?”
Nick Watson and Jordon Butts collide.Source: Getty Images
AFL great Jason Dunstall said he would want to see Watson removed “a little bit quicker”.
“We’re still a work in progress in this area of the game,” he said.
“Anyone watching probably thought he needed to come straight off for a HIA.”
Speaking after the match, Watson shrugged off the moment.
“Yeah I’m fine,” he said.
“I bounced back up on my feet.
“The boys said I have a low bar in the concussion test anyway to pass – I don’t know how I passed it! I struggle with it anyway even if I wasn’t concussed.
“(We) had a bit of momentum, (I) was finally finding the footy – was pretty filthy I had to come off!
“We (he and the team doctor) had a good laugh at the end of that. The test took about 10 minutes – I was filthy at that as well!
“Glad I passed it.”
Nick Watson speaking to Fox Footy after full time.Source: FOX SPORTS
At the time of the head knock, Fox Footy’s commentators were concerned Watson was allowed to play on.
“Looked like he was in real trouble,” dual premiership Roo David King said.
Speaking from the boundary, Brad Johnson said Watson told medical staff he was “OK” to continue.
“The doctor spent after this incident literally one second with Watson and asked are you OK? I think he said yes,” he reported.
“They are having another look on the boundary line now.”
“That’s not a thorough check is it?” Jack Riewoldt questioned.
“No it’s not,” Johnson replied.
King said it was up to the AFL to step in and protect players from themselves in these instances.
“This is where the ARC has to intervene and say no, you take the boy from the ground and do the proper checks,” he said.
“They may say he’s right to play, but he must be taken from the field.”
Ralph felt the act to remove Watson took too long.
“To be honest, it took too long,” he said.
Nick Watson was knocked down onto the UTAS Stadium turf.Source: FOX SPORTS
“That doctor you could imagine as soon as you saw that vision should have got him off straight away.
“You’d think within 30 seconds or a minute, he needed to get off that ground. Eventually at least he did get off UTAS Oval.”
“He got the double whack – it was body on body and then the head hitting the ground,” Dunstall added.
“Clearly he was stunned – you could see the eyes were rolling around in the back of the head when he goes down.
“He doesn’t quite know where he is.
“To his credit, he got involved in the next passage of play and helped create a goal for the Hawks – but that’s a double whack.”
Hawks coach Sam Mitchell was adamant the correct process was followed.
“I have full faith in our medical team,” Mitchell said in his post-match press conference.
“Westy (team doctor Liam West) is probably on the … safer side of things. He went out to him straight away – he had to come off eventually – but he went out to him straight away and I’ve got full faith in our medical team.
“He passed the tests and all those things.”