‘Fraught with danger’: Dees star Kysaiah Pickett faces nervy wait over bump on Patrick Cripps

Kysaiah Pickett has come under fire after this collision with Patrick Cripps left the superstar Carlton captain worse for wear.

Kysaiah Pickett on Patrick Cripps.

Melbourne star Kysaiah Pickett faces a nervous wait for the Match Review Officer’s verdict after a collision with Patrick Cripps left the superstar Carlton captain bloodied and a Demons great fuming.

Cripps was part of a Blues handball chain during the second quarter of Friday night’s semi-final against Melbourne when Pickett made contact with him.

Moments after Cripps had disposed of the ball, an airborne Pickett elects to bump and appears to catch Cripps high.

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Cripps came from the ground with a blood nose for further assessment by Carlton’s medical team before, crucially, returning to the field after not undergoing a concussion test.

Tigers legend Matthew Richardson told Channel 7 Pickett’s bump was “fraught with danger”, adding the Demons star was in trouble.

Will Pickett be in trouble for this bump on Cripps?

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It came after Pickett cost his team a shot at goal in the first quarter, with a jumper punch to Carlton’s Mitch McGovern prompting a reversal free kick.

Speaking on Fox Footy, former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon said Pickett had “a real problem on his hands”.

Kysaiah Pickett’s hit on Patrick Cripps.

“It’s time for him to forget about the try-hard tough acts and put his head over the footy and win some ball,” a blunt Lyon told Fox Footy.

“He cost his team a goal early in the piece when they had momentum and you’ve got to learn from your mistakes in the past. He’s in trouble.”

Pickett in Round 1 was handed a two-match ban for a bump on Western Bulldogs midfielder Bailey Smith, who played out the rest of the game.

AFL to investigate Carlton’s concussion call

Meanwhile, the AFL is set to send Carlton a please explain over why star Jacob Weitering was not brought from the field late in the thrilling semi final win over Melbourne.

Weitering was captured clearly wobbly on his feet after appearing to cop the back of Demon Joel Smith’s head to his face in the final term.

But despite looking shaky and dazed, the Blues defender was allowed to remain in the contest and ended up taking the game-turning intercept mark that led to Blake Acres’ match-winning goal.

Fox Footy’s Jon Ralph said the AFL will likely investigate both the Weitering moment and why Carlton captain Cripps wasn’t HIA tested.

“The AFL will ask why Jacob Weitering was not out of the game at least for a concussion test … My understanding is the Carlton doctors were trying to get him off in those frantic final moments, were not able to do that,” he said.

“He certainly looks fine in the rooms afterwards.

“The AFL will want to get an explanation from Carlton.

“They might well ask why Patrick Cripps was not taken out of the game at least for a concussion test after that hit with Kysaiah Pickett.”

Jacob Weitering was allowed to remain out on the field without a HIA test.

Four-time premiership Hawk Jordan Lewis hit out at the explanation provided for the call to leave Weitering on the field.

“He was clearly shaky and wobbly on his feet,” he said.

“For me, that’s a sign to just get them off straight away so I don’t accept that the doctors couldn’t get out there or they didn’t see it or whatever happened.

“He was clearly groggy.”

“They’ll sort it out but that is inconsistent with that we’ve been told all year,” Garry Lyon added.

“We saw (Blues teammate) Harry McKay hardly get a touch to his head last week … it doesn’t necessarily have to be that hard.

Jacob Weitering stayed on the field. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

“Gotta save people from themselves.”

Brisbane champion Jonathan Brown played devil’s advocate and argued Weitering could have just been exhausted – and not concussed – as reason for his wobbles.

“Did he wobble because of a head knock? He certainly didn’t look like he was affected several minutes after,” he said.

“He played a good last quarter.

“There was nothing in it (the knock from Smith). The actual hit, he barely grazed him with the back of his head.

“Was he just absolutely fatigued and buggered?

“What if Jacob Weitering said ‘I was absolutely cooked and my performance in the last 15 minutes showed all my faculties were intact’ because he was magnificent.

“Look at the actual hit. He would look at that and say ‘he hardly touched me’.

“Being careful of jumping to conclusions.”

Earlier this year Port Adelaide were handed a big penalty by the AFL for allowing star Aliir Aliir back onto the field after a nasty head knock with teammate Lachie Jones without being concussion tested.

Both Aliir and Jones went on to miss the following week as a result of entering the concussion protocols.

Originally published as ‘Fraught with danger’: Dees star Kysaiah Pickett faces nervy wait over bump on Patrick Cripps