Just published in The Age
‘Like a minor car crash’: Stewart clash raises questions about concussion message
Jon Pierik
Veteran player agent Peter Jess has questioned whether the threat of life-altering brain trauma is getting through to AFL players and a dual premiership player has called on the league to take action after a week in which a dangerous tackle and a bone-crunching off-the-ball collision left two players concussed.
Geelong’s Tom Stewart will front the tribunal this week after his clash with Richmond’s Dion Prestia at the MCG on Saturday, when the veteran Cat bypassed the ball to upend his opponent – an incident which has again sparked calls for a send-off rule.
This came a week after Giants ruckman Brayden Preuss was suspended for a match for a dangerous tackle on Western Bulldog Tim English in round 14. It left the ruckman briefly motionless and may have contributed to his concussion. The Dogs say he took several hits that evening. The concussion is English’s third in as many seasons,
and he remains in concussion protocols and is in doubt for Thursday night’s clash against Brisbane.
These incidents come in a year when Jess, using his own private data, says there almost certainly will be more than 100 concussions across professional and semi-professional football in Australia, including the AFL.
The AFL has strengthened its policies and education, including introducing a medical substitute last season, but recent incidents have enraged Jess, who is at the front of a potential class action should the league not introduce a brain trauma compensation fund.
“Tom Stewart showed his fellow professional footballer no respect in the nature and extent of the hit,” Jess said.
“You can be sorry after the event, but we don’t know what the long-term damage will be for Dion. The collision at that velocity is like a minor car crash. It doesn’t kill you, but it hurts you in the long term. We are pretending to make the game safe. It is simply not safe.”
Stewart’s bump was classified by the match review officer as careless (but not intentional) conduct, severe impact and high contact and was sent directly to the tribunal, meaning he faces a minimum three-match ban. But the Cats may argue it was high – not severe – impact, which under the league’s guidelines is a two-match suspension.
“We will not last as a code if this action is not stamped out,” Jess said.
Dual North Melbourne premiership player David King said excuses had too often been made for the offending player, and the tribunal needed to make a statement with Stewart.
“The line-ball ones have favoured the player who has laid the bump over the past three years. You [AFL] have taken us to this situation. Enough is enough. Either take a stand or get rid of the whole stance against head trauma. Once and for all. It’s been absolute crap to this point,” King told Fox Footy.
“What about Dion Prestia who is relying on the game to protect his safety?”
Collingwood great Nathan Buckley said a four-match ban was required.
“I think three is the minimum and I think it’s likely to be three or four depending on how it comes down given the submissions of Geelong and Richmond,” Buckley said on SEN.
Leading neurophysiologist Dr Alan Pearce, a researcher on concussion and the degenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), said dangerous tackles needed a higher grading if sports were serious about athlete health and safety.