By Danny Russell and Peter Ryan
Geelong have been cleared of breaching AFL medical protocols, despite the Cats revealing on Saturday that key forward Jeremy Cameron had been diagnosed with delayed concussion from a heavy head knock on Friday night.
Cameron was allowed to play out Friday night’s clash against Port Adelaide after landing heavily during a marking contest and slamming his head into the GMHBA Stadium turf.
Star Cat Jeremy Cameron was diagnosed with delayed concussion on Saturday.Credit: Getty Images
But the big Cat reported concussion symptoms during tests on Saturday morning and will miss next Thursday night’s clash against Gold Coast in Darwin.
Geelong coach Chris Scott indicated on Friday night that Tom Hawkins would also miss the Northern Territory clash as part of the club’s rotation policy.
Scott might need to reconsider that decision now that Cameron has been ruled out.
Several commentators questioned why Cameron was not taken from the ground on Friday night after he landed on his side and banged his head on the ground in a whiplash motion at the nine-minute mark of a tense last quarter.
He lay on his back after the fall, holding his head, before clambering to his feet to take part in the next stoppage.
Geelong medical staff spoke to Cameron on the ground, but the club said on Saturday that he had passed a head injury assessment.
Geelong said Cameron was allowed to play out the final nine minutes of the match, in which the Cats lost by a goal, because he did not report any symptoms and had satisfied all AFL requirements.
“After further review of the video footage, and in consultation with the spotters in the ARC, it was decided there was no criteria to remove Cameron immediately from the field for further assessment,” the Cats said in a statement late on Saturday afternoon.
Geelong said Cameron also passed concussion tests after the game.
Jeremy Cameron (left) celebtrates a goal with Tom Hawkins.Credit: AFL Photos
But the Cats revealed that Cameron reported symptoms during a Saturday morning assessment, and he was diagnosed with delayed concussion.
Last year, Port Adelaide was fined $100,000 for failing to send defender Aliir Aliir for a concussion test after he clashed heads with a teammate during a match against Adelaide.
The league said Port had shown an “error of judgment” by breaching the league’s concussion protocols and potentially risked Aliir’s wellbeing.
An AFL spokesperson said the league’s medical experts had discussed the incident with Geelong doctors on Saturday morning and were comfortable that Cameron had been managed within the league’s concussion guidelines.
The spokesperson said medical spotters in the ARC had alerted Geelong doctors to Cameron’s fall shortly after the incident, but in the absence of “probable motor incoordination or no protective action” immediate removal of the player for a sport concussion assessment test (SCAT6) was not mandated.
The heavy nature of Cameron’s fall on Friday night, prompted Seven commentator Brian Taylor to say during his call: “He gave his head a real good banging. I reckon the doctors will look at that.”
Fellow commentator Matthew Richardson then added: “As soon as you stay still on the ground for a couple of seconds, that’s a trigger.”
Seven boundary rider Abbey Holmes was shocked that Cameron was not taken to the boundary for tests.
“Jeremy Cameron is staying out on the ground,” Holmes said. “It didn’t look good, did it? With his head heavily making contact with the ground.”
Cameron was also collected above the eye during a ground-ball contest earlier in the game.
In his post-match press conference Scott said Hawkins would miss the Suns match, a decision that had been pre-planned by the club.
If he doesn’t play, Hawkins will have to wait until the match against Greater Western Sydney at GMHBA Stadium in a fortnight to break Joel Selwood’s club record of 355 games.
Scott fires off at umpire interpretation
Peter Ryan
The controversial manner in which umpires are interpreting holding the ball has come under fire from Cats coach Chris Scott after Geelong fell six points short of defeating Port Adelaide on Friday night with the decision to not pay advantage to the Cats in the dying minutes frustrating him.
Scott questioned the amount of time umpires are giving players to get rid of the ball when they are tackled.
He said allowing players to be spun around after they have been given prior opportunity has become both confusing and potentially dangerous for players who are acutely aware they can no longer dump a player in a tackle for fear of causing injury.
Jhye Clark of the Cats tackles Zak Butters of the Power.Credit: Getty Images
“Players are really clear that they’ve got to be careful taking a player to ground in a tackle and at the moment you can be spun 360 [degrees] and still get time to get rid of the ball after having prior opportunity,” Scott said.
He referenced an example in round seven when defender Jake Kolodjashnij did not bring Carlton’s Matt Cottrell to ground in a tackle and the Blues utility was able to kick a goal. Players are also in danger of being suspended if a player is hurt in a tackle or giving away a dangerous tackle free kick if they execute the tackle poorly.
There were also several instances during Friday night’s match when the player with the ball was given maximum time to dispose of the ball despite an opponent having them in their grip.
Scott said the rules are not the issue nor whether it favoured one team or another on the night but the way the game was being umpired.
“It’s either [a case] of a whistle and a ball up straight away, or it’s holding the ball,” Scott said.
The dual premiership coach said he thought players should be given time to release the ball if they had no prior opportunity and he suspected the umpires were reluctant to blow the whistle because there seemed to be an aversion to stoppages.
“From a coaching perspective the hardest part, more than the frustration as to why isn’t that holding the ball is to say to players ‘don’t dump them’ but when they can turn and turn and turn …there were a couple of 360s out there tonight where it is a whistle either way,” Scott said.
While adamant that the umpires had a tough job, he also claimed the goal to Jeremy Cameron in the final two minutes of the game should have stood, rather than the umpire bringing the ball back to have Ollie Henry take a free kick instead of paying advantage.
It would have brought the margin back to one behind in Port Adelaide’s favour.
“It was a goal and that’s the point I was trying to make,” Scott said.
“Every other sport in the world that has an advantage rule that I can think of doesn’t blow the whistle when there is a free kick because they want to see whether the advantage is there or not.”
Meanwhile, Scott confirmed Tom Hawkins would not play against the Gold Coast in Darwin on Thursday night after the key forward managed one goal in his record equalling match.
The Cats’ coach bemoaned the poor start saying Port Adelaide’s on-ballers Jason Horne-Francis and Zak Butters took control of the match.
“They are an emotional team and when the emotion is running for them they are very good, so there is that side of it and we will look at it and obviously have a think about how we could adjust when the game is going like that,” Scott said.
He rationalised the decision to sub Rhys Stanley out of the game for tactical reasons before half-time as an aggressive move that was necessary because the game looked gone at that stage.
It nearly worked with Oisin Mullin, who replaced Hawkins, quelling Horne-Francis’s influence in the second half after replacing Stanley.
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley said beating Geelong at the venue for the first time since 2007 was a huge result.
“We have been a pretty good team through the first part of this year. We have put ourselves in a reasonable spot,” Hinkley said.
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