AFL reaches agreement to avoid a repeat of Zach Sproule hospital delay because of Covid protocols
The AFL has reached an agreement with Western Australian authorities to avoid a repeat of Zach Sproule drama, where he faced a long delay before taken to a Perth hospital.
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The AFL is confident no player will face a long wait to go to a Perth hospital if required on Friday night after following up an incident involving GWS Giants’ Zach Sproule.
The league has held talks with Western Australian authorities to ensure the process can be sped-up so any player who suffered a serious injury won’t be delayed medical treatment.
News Corp revealed on Saturday Sproule waited for almost an hour for an ambulance to take him to hospital on Friday night after dislocating his shoulder against the Cats.
The Giants were unhappy the red tape surrounding police checks and COVID-19 protocols slowed Sproule’s ambulance ride to hospital and feared for what could happen to any player which suffered a more serious injury.
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Richmond superstar Dustin Martin suffered a lacerated kidney earlier this season and was quickly taken to hospital, ensuring he did not face a life-threatening situation.
But the AFL has followed up the Sproule incident and has tightened the process to ensure no player requiring immediate medical treatment will be put at any risk or delayed hospital treatment or imaging.
An AFL spokesperson said the issue had been resolved.
“The AFL has worked through the situation with the GWS Giants and other relevant parties and has rectified the issue ahead of any future matches played under quarantine directions in the 2021 Toyota AFL Finals Series,” the spokesperson said.
The Demons and the Cats have remained under restrictions for Friday night’s preliminary final.
Concerns over significant delay before Giant’s hospital trip
The AFL’s medical department will be alerted to the long delay Greater Western Sydney’s Zach Sproule faced before he was taken to a Perth hospital on Friday night.
Sproule dislocated his shoulder in the semi-final loss to Geelong Cats at Perth Stadium and had to wait for up to an hour before he was taken by ambulance to hospital.
News Corp understands the significant delay was largely due to the requirements surrounding Western Australia’s Covid-19 protocols and gaining clearance from WA police before Sproule could be taken.
The Giants were in quarantine in Perth and subject to tight restrictions which had to be worked through before the ambulance could depart.
But the incident has raised concerns that the process must be tightened before a player with a more serious injury is put at risk ahead of the AFL grand final on September 25 in Perth.
Richmond superstar Dustin Martin suffered a lacerated kidney in a game against Brisbane earlier in the season and was taken to hospital for immediate treatment.
Senior football officials have made clear any player with a more serious or even life-threatening injury would need a quicker trip to the hospital regardless of the police protocols for the preliminary final and Grand Final in Perth.
The Giants would have preferred a quicker turnaround for any AFL player in that situation and will provide a thorough run-down on the events after the game to the AFL as part of an assessment on the process.
No GWS Giants’ official was able to join Sproule, 23, for the trip to the hospital as part of the protocol requirements. Normally a medical official or welfare staff member would accompany the player.
Sproule was taking the “green whistle” painkiller to help manage the pain of the injury after hurting himself in a fourth-term ruck contest.
Sproule re-joined his GWS teammates in their Perth accommodation after midnight after their season ended at the hands of the Cats.
THIS IS CHRIS SCOTT’S CHANCE TO SILENCE THE DOUBTERS
Marc McGowan
Chris Scott was at his whimsical best post-match on Friday night.
The Cats had just breezed past the understrength Giants and into their 11th preliminary final in 15 years – an astonishing record – after a week of being belted from pillar to post.
It was groundhog week leading in for Geelong under Scott, given it had lost a sixth qualifying final from seven tries.
Equally, the home and away season king’s Cats teams are now 5-1 in semi-finals.
Scott’s also used to critics not giving him credit for the 2011 premiership in his first season after succeeding Mark Thompson.
But, to him, that’s all just “theatre” and he, his team and his game style have nothing to prove.
“It’s not the way we work. I don’t really believe in that (type of) motivation,” Scott said.
“It’s good theatre for the game. I understand why that question is asked and why you might wonder whether we use it, but we don’t.
“We don’t think it’s very valuable and we think it takes our minds off what we do best.
“We had a bad one (last week) – it happens, even to good teams – so we just needed to concentrate on what we do well and I thought we got back to that pretty well tonight.”
That’s probably why Scott was unwilling to bite on another question regarding whether Geelong had an advantage over next opponent Melbourne, which has played in four finals in 15 years (all since 2018).
“I always find that hard to quantify. I think we will have some confidence, because we’ve been here before,” he said.
“As I try to stress, without being defensive or having an argument, every year is a new year.
“The short-term experience does help a bit, so the last year or two, but I’m not sure our finals experience in 2011 is going to help us too much, (because) we’ve got three players left.
“Again, I think it goes to a different point, which is the external side of things, the theatre, which should be embraced.
“I’m not arguing against it – I’m certainly not suggesting anyone should not talk about those things, that’s their prerogative – and it probably does have some relevance, in terms of the theatre.”
Scott said what was more important, or “real”, was the “team we’ve become” in the past three seasons, including last year’s grand final appearance (and an 0-3 qualifying final record).
“We’re confident we can play well this week, but, gee, the longer you go in the season, the harder it gets,” he said.
“You’re playing high-quality opposition and that’s one of the things when you finish top four – you know you’re going to play really good teams.”
Scott makes valid points, but also too easily dismisses arguably the AFL’s most infamous finals record this side of Essendon.
A second premiership would silence Scott’s doubters, something he would almost certainly already have if not for Dustin Martin’s grand final masterclass in 2020.
His 72 per cent home and away season record is elite, but the accompanying 42 per cent finals mark is the question mark.
Context, as always, is important: Scott-coached sides exited the finals in straight sets only once (2014) and failed to qualify for September on just one occasion (2015).
As he highlighted himself, qualifying finals are tough to win against fellow top-four teams.
Scott’s set the bar incredibly high, so any criticism he receives is relative.
But that doesn’t mean Geelong’s result against the ladder-topping Demons next Friday night won’t be significant.
A fifth defeat in seven preliminary finals would be a bitter pill to swallow.
The Cats coughed up a 44-point lead in losing to Melbourne a fortnight ago, a fact that provides even more “theatre” for the rematch.
So is that game going to be relevant in a week’s time? Far more relevant than those pesky results from previous years, Scott says.
“It’s an interesting game to have a look at, because we got 44 points up, so we clearly played some pretty good footy against them, then they were really dominant in the second half,” he said.
“So it depends whether you’re glass half-full or not.”
HOW TOMAHAWK-INSPIRED CATS KEPT FLAG HOPES ALIVE
Brad Elborough and Chris Cavanagh
Geelong will play in yet another AFL preliminary final.
The Cats took advantage of an undermanned Greater Western Sydney in Perth on Friday night, winning their semi-final clash by 35 points.
They held off an early final-quarter attack from the Giants, who kicked three goals in as many minutes at the start of the term to get the margin back to 20 points.
But Geelong steadied, Tom Hawkins adding two late goals to finish with five in the 15.13 (103) to 10.8 (68) win at Optus Stadium, where they will meet Melbourne in the preliminary final next Friday night.
It will be Geelong’s fifth appearance in the penultimate week of the season in six years and their sixth since they last won the flag, in 2011.
The Cats weren’t perfect, but their performance was noticeably improved to what they dished up in their 43-point qualifying final loss to Port Adelaide a week earlier.
They managed it without a massive input from Joel Selwood in his record-breaking 333rd game in a Cats jumper. Nor from Patrick Dangerfield, who spent most of the night in the midfield, showing little sign of his broken finger.
The brave run of four consecutive wins from the Giants ends. They haven’t played in Sydney since 19 June, some 73 days ago.
And cruelly, the first goal on Friday night came from the boot of their former key forward of nine years, Jeremy Cameron.
It broke the initial arm wrestle, that went for almost 17 minutes.
Cameron looked dangerous throughout and finished with two. Along with Tom Hawkins and Gary Rohan (two) provided headaches for the Giants defence.
That is an absolute belter from Bobby 🙌#YokayiFooty | #AFLFinalspic.twitter.com/INJYduYuwe
— AFL (@AFL) September 3, 2021
Hard way to goal
It’s fair to say the Giants were forced to work a lot harder for their goals than the Cats.
That was inevitable before the opening bounce when key forward Jesse Hogan pulled out due to a calf injury.
His withdrawal compounded the loss of Toby Greene midweek to suspension. And Hogan was hardly replaced with a like-for-like-player, with former skipper and defender Phil Davis brought in for his 11th game of the season and his first since the Giants Round 20 loss to Port Adelaide.
With Hogan out, it left Harry Himmelberg the only one of the Giants top four goal scorers for the season on the ground – and he had his hands full with Mark Blicavs.
The result was the Giants left goalless in the first term and trailing by 14 points at quarter-time.
Even when Lachie Whitfield and Josh Kelly got going in the second quarter and a few goals came, the Giants had to work for them.
They kicked three goals in that term, none from set shots.
Geelong, leading by 15 points at the main break, had kicked 5.8. All five goals came from either free kicks, or as a result of marks.
Shane Mumford kicked the Giants first goal from a set shot after the three-quarter-time siren. It only managed to drag the margin back to 32 points though.
Esava that is massive 😤#AFLFinalspic.twitter.com/omKbUnkIVS
— AFL (@AFL) September 3, 2021
Season-over for Parfitt?
Geelong midfielder Brandan Parfitt was subbed out of his side’s semi-final after suffering a left hamstring injury in the opening term.
Parfitt suffered the injury while lunging to lay a tackle in a devastating blow which is likely to rule him out of the remainder of the year.
Parfitt was subbed out of the game at quarter-time, replaced by Zach Guthrie.
Parfitt, 23, was playing his 23rd game this year and had been averaging a career-high 19.5 disposals, 3.4 clearances, 3.9 score assists and 272 metres gained entering the match.
Return of the Irishman
The return of defender Zach Tuohy from three games out with a hamstring injury has come at a good time for the Cats.
He had 12 touches in the first term, running across halfback; left alone by the Giants who tried to run an extra player up the ground.
The Cats will probably need to play the remaining games of this final series without Brandan Parfitt, who injured his hamstring in the first term.
He was subbed out at halftime with the Cats leading by 14 points.
There was a nervous moment for the Cats midway through the third term when key forward Hawkins left the ground with a corked thigh; not the first person to suffer one after colliding with Giant Shane Mumford.
Hawkins left the ground for a few anxious moments, but returned a few minutes later to provide a reminder of why he is such an important player.
He took a ruck knock deep in Geelong’s forward line, knocking the ball into path of Isaac Smith who kicked the Cats ninth goal and opened up a 32-point lead.
Early preview
Next Friday night’s final will be the first between Melbourne and Geelong since the Demons beat the Cats in the 2018 Elimination Final.
The Demons beat Hawthorn in the Semi-Final a week later before being demolished by eventual premier, West Coast, by 51 points in the Preliminary Final. That game was at Optus Stadium.
It will be the first time that the Cats and the Demons will meet in a preliminary final since 1954. Melbourne won that game by 17 points before Footscray crunched them by 51 points in the Grand Final.
SCOREBOARD
CATS 2.5 5.8 10.9 15.13 (103)
GIANTS 0.3 3.5 5.7 10.8 (68)
ELBOROUGH’S BEST
Cats: Hawkins, Menegola, Tuohy, Gutherie, Smith, Blicavs.
Giants: Kelly, Whitfield, Haynes, Hopper, de Boer, Ward.
GOALS
Cats: Hawkins 5; Cameron 2, Close 2, Rohan 2, Menegola 2; Ratugolea, Smith.
Giants: Himmelberg 2, Stone 2; Haynes, Hill, Kelly, Lloyd, Mumford, Ward.
INJURIES:
Cats: Parfitt (hamstring) replaced by Z Guthrie, Hawkins (corked leg).
Giants: Hogan (calf) replaced in selected team by Davis, Sproule (shoulder), replaced by Peatling.
UMPIRES Donlon, Chamberlain, Meredith
VENUE Optus Stadium
BRAD ELBOROUGH’S VOTES
3 Hawkins (Cats)
2 Menegola (Cats)
1 Kelly (Giants)
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Originally published as AFL reaches agreement to avoid a repeat of Zach Sproule hospital delay because of Covid protocols
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