AFL chief Gillon McLachlan speaks as Port Adelaide fined $100,000 for breaching AFL concussion protocols in Showdown 54

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan has opened up on Port Adelaide’s $100k fine, the league’s protocols and the prospect of independent concussion doctors.

An AFL review will attempt to streamline sideline protocols for club doctors examining players with head knocks as the league considers the prospect of independent concussion doctors.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan on Friday said Port Adelaide’s early admission of a mistake in the treatment of Aliir Aliir and Lachie Jones had helped limit an eventual $100,000 fine.

Only $50,000 of that fine will be paid in the club’s football department cap, but club doctor Mark Fisher will stay at the Power and the club’s premiership points and draft picks remain intact.

The Power has now been involved in three AFL investigations over player head knocks since 2016.

But McLachlan said Port Adelaide had worked hard with his integrity team since last Saturday’s concussion drama to own the issue.

Aliir Aliir and Lachie Jones in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos

McLachlan said he was unsure if independent concussion doctors would have helped Fisher make a different decision as he returned Aliir to the field in five and a half minutes and ruled out Jones with a migraine instead of concussion.

But the league will write to clubs about their obligations about concussion management and conduct its own review at year’s end into concussion protocols.

“I think it’s obviously a large sanction but Port Adelaide’s ownership of the mistake from the start and their contrition and the way they have worked proactively with our integrity department means (the loss of premiership) points were never contemplated,” McLachlan said.

“I think it’s a mistake. We have got some of the great sports physicians in the world who take the product very seriously. Our concussion protocols are best practice but mistakes happen and there has to be accountability in the system. I do think the sanctions are a deterrent to make sure people are vigilant.”

In the NFL, independent concussion doctors have a more active role than the medically-trained concussion spotters in AFL who work out of a Melbourne video review centre and highlight head knocks for doctors to assess.

“We are obviously going to conduct a review about what happened on match day. Specifically can we evolve the process and structures to try to avoid this kind of mistake?” McLachlan said.

“So at the moment the review will be about systems and processes and what was going on match day and the two people coming off at once, a pressure situation, how we can make sure the right decision is made every time? Whether there is independent oversight or a change to independent oversight or we can help them, that will be part of an ongoing continuous improvement.”

Ken Hinkley and Chris Davies on Saturday night. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos

Port Adelaide football boss Chris Davies said on Friday morning the club owned the mistake “from very early in the piece”.

“We understand the AFL’s need to sanction us in this direction and we accept the penalty that has been outlined,” he said.

Davies said there was no negotiation in the sanction, nor any discussion of a penalty including draft picks and/or premiership points.

“That was never a part of the consideration (draft picks or premiership points) the AFL sets the penalties,” he said.

“There is no period of negotiation in this. We put our hand up very early in the piece and passed it onto the AFL to put their judgement on

“Clearly the public has also made a judgement which I acknowledge and we have to accept.”

The league again reinforced on Friday that players should immediately enter concussion protocols for symptoms including “loss of consciousness, no protective action in fall to ground and impact seizure or tonic posturing”.

Even when there are possible signs of concussion the player must be removed for a 15-minute SCAT5 test in the rooms but instead Aliir was quickly returned to the field.

Originally published as AFL chief Gillon McLachlan speaks as Port Adelaide fined $100,000 for breaching AFL concussion protocols in Showdown 54