Source :- THE AGE NEWS
The AFL Players Association has called for protocols around on-field player safety to be tightened after the botched handling of Lachie Schultz’s concussion last Thursday night.
The AFL’s football boss Laura Kane took responsibility for the Schultz situation after it emerged on Tuesday night that umpires were aware the Collingwood player was lying injured on Optus Stadium, despite the AFL initially saying umpires had told the league they hadn’t seen him.
Lachie Schultz of the Magpies collapses in the hands of medical staff.Credit: Getty Images
But former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said the on-field incident was a red herring, and after hearing the tapes thought the umpires handled the situation “perfectly”.
He said the focus should instead be on investigating who was responsible for the AFL making a false statement.
The audio of the umpires’ on-field discussion was played on Seven’s The Agenda Setters on Tuesday night in an embarrassing situation for the league.
“There’s got to be a huge inquest and time spent on this, and really open and transparent communication of what has occurred,” Buckley told SEN on Wednesday. “It’s not acceptable.”
“If Laura Kane has been informed [the umpires did not see Schultz] and she’s gone with it … trusting the person that has informed her, well then it needs to go down the chain to find out who came to this conclusion without doing the work [of checking the tapes] and they need to be counselled.
“There’s going to be some people with egg on their faces. So go and get all that information. And whoever’s going to have egg on their face, make sure that the egg lands where it should, and then communicate that and accept responsibility for it.”
Buckley said he was angry at the lack of transparency and sceptical at the suggestion the umpires had not told the truth.
“I can’t see how four blokes could conspire to lie to their bosses after having handled the situation well,” he said.
“I’m angry. I’m agitated … It might be a bit of PTSD, when you get in a team or an organisation and mistruths are spoken or ownership isn’t taken at different levels, it throws everything into the shadows. It throws everything into disrepute.”
Schultz walked off the field with the help of Collingwood staff, and has since entered concussion protocols.
His situation comes after several instances in the past 12 months of controversial handling of player injuries, scenarios players’ union boss Paul Marsh said could be avoided with clearer procedures.
Melbourne star Christian Petracca came back onto the field despite suffering what were later found to be life-threatening internal injuries on King’s Birthday last year. Geelong forward Jeremy Cameron stayed on the field despite later being diagnosed with concussion, while more recently play continued with Essendon’s Harry Jones stricken on the boundary line with a gruesome dislocated ankle.
“It is now clear that the umpires noticed Lachie Schultz’s injury and had the opportunity to stop the play to ensure he left the field safely,” Marsh said in a statement released to this masthead.
“What this highlights to us is that the process of dealing with vital health and safety issues on the field is unclear, and there are many recent examples of the industry needing to better prepare everyone for when these situations occur.
“Equally, we are disappointed that the AFL failed to appropriately review a serious on-field incident but acknowledge that they have taken responsibility for this.
“We welcome the opportunity to work with the industry to continually strengthen health and safety protocols for our members.”
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.
