AFLDA medicos open to concussion spotters taking on more responsibility

The AFL Doctors’ Association has called out one of its own after the Port Adelaide incident – but the president also has a wider message for the footy world.

Aliir Aliir of the Power. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos

The Port Adelaide concussion fiasco triggered a “significant reaction” among the AFL Doctors’ Association, which has vowed to ensure “that sort of error never occurs again”.

A disappointed AFLDA president Barry Rigby declared: “Those players (Aliir Aliir and Lachie Jones) should have been removed permanently from the field of play, unequivocally – it's a category one concussion.”

The AFLDA’s strong response to a mistake made by one of their own, Port Adelaide doctor Mark Fisher, came as the collective of club medicos revealed they were now open to the league’s concussion spotters taking on greater responsibilities.

This masthead revealed last year that the AFL had started planting a concussion spotter in the ARC bunker to monitor every AFL and AFLW match.

But Rigby stopped short of saying clubs should cede full control of matchday concussions to independent doctors.

AFLDA president Barry Rigby. Picture Glenn Hampson

“It’s really important that the doctor understands a little bit about the baseline personality and traits of that player,” Rigby told this masthead.

“They’re all different and we understand some of them behave in a different way, and those nuances may be lost if you’ve got an independent doctor.

“We think that we're still the right person for people for the job.

“One can raise a not unreasonable argument for independent doctors – it does take a lot of the pressure off the club doctor to make those calls, and in some respect it moves the responsibility away from the club doctor.

“From a medico-legal perspective that might be seen as a bit of a release. The reality however is that I don’t think we live in an era where coaches challenge medical decisions, particularly in the concussion area.

“Perhaps we need to look at a broader role for that person within the ARC. They at the moment highlight potential episodes of concussion, or potential knocks that need to be looked at a bit more closely, and we appreciate that because we can‘t see everything.

“Maybe their roles and responsibilities need to be looked at in terms of expanding and being a bit more I/C (independent consultant) directive in terms of what should and shouldn't happen.”

Power doctor Mark Fisher (right). (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

The Sunday Herald Sun understands the AFL’s concussion spotters have contacted some, but not all, club doctors to flag in-game collisions that required review this year.

The AFL’s chief medical officer, Michael Makdissi, has also followed up with multiple club doctors during the week to inquire about their management for players who had sustained a headknock.

The AFLDA spoke out to reassure the football world that players remained in trusted and caring hands, despite a clear error which cost Port a $100,000 fine ($50,000 in the softcap).

“It‘s pretty obvious to anyone that the management of these players last weekend fell well short of our expectations as a professional group,” Rigby, who is also Gold Coast’s club doctor, said.

“And I think it was quite obviously a clear breach of the AFL protocols on concussion. Now what‘s particularly disappointing from our perspective is that we, as a group, have been very involved in the development these policies and promoted and supported them for well over 20 years.

“Given our efforts around this … disappointment would be the most polite word I could use.

“But rather than accuse and damn people, we just want to reassure the AFL community about our contributions as AFL doctors.
“We‘re a very experienced group of doctors and we will continue to provide what I think has been outstanding care and support for staff and players over many, many years,” Rigby said.

Aliir Aliir is escorted off the ground after his head knock in the Showdown. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“However as an organisation we will be discussing this further with Port Adelaide medical staff and with Mark (Fisher), and further with the AFL.

“And we'll be looking at some ways in which we can try and prevent any repeat of these sorts of incidents.

“So this is something we take extraordinarily seriously, and there‘s been significant reaction among our group that we need to do something here to make sure that sort of error never occurs again.

“I can't put it any more sterner than that.”

The AFLDA backed the $100,000 sanction as “very appropriate and proportionate response that reflected the significance of the incident” although some footy folk in club land feared the $50,000 hit to the soft cap could unfairly cost a junior staffer such as a property steward or analyst their job.

“There’s clearly been mistakes made. But I think it‘s also important that we recognise Mark. He’s a long-term servant of Port Adelaide over decades he’s made invaluable contributions to everyone at that football club as they’ve come through the doors,” Rigby said.

“So that shouldn't be minimised or forgotten, and he shouldn’t be judged solely on this single incident – as bad as it is.”

Originally published as AFLDA medicos open to concussion spotters taking on more responsibility