St Albans player Bailey Coutts cleared over Darby Henderson bump incident as Cats star completes contact training
An independent investigation has delivered a verdict on the bump that left Darby Henderson concussed. And the Lara star is poised to return this weekend — but a call won’t be made until the last minute.
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St Albans player Bailey Coutts has been cleared by an independent investigation following his bump on Darby Henderson, as the Lara star is in line to make a surprise return on Saturday.
Lara requested an investigation into the bump from Coutts which concussed Henerson in the first quarter of St Albans’ thumping win over Lara after the AFL match review panel deemed that both players contributed to the concussion.
The two-week investigation cleared both players of any wrongdoing.
“The appointed Accredited Independent Investigations Officer determined that there was no reportable offence committed by either Darby Henderson or Bailey Coutts,” the verdict read.
Lara and St Albans FNC’s have both accepted the verdict.
“We asked for an investigation and it has happened, we accept the finding and we’ll move on,” Lara president Chris Spence said.
Henderson will exit return-to-play concussion protocols on Saturday and is poised to face Colac, but Lara will wait until gameday to confirm his availability.
The former Williamstown VFL player completed contact training on Tuesday and Thursday and pulled up well on Friday,.
It is understood Henderson will have the final say on whether he faces the Tigers.
Henderson detailed his string of concussions to this masthead a fortnight ago and at that point he was “hopeful” of playing football again despite his five to 10 head knocks across his career.
He said he was disappointed with the initial match review verdict that saw him ruled out of the game.
“I’ve got nothing at all against Bailey on the weekend, he obviously saw something on the ground and he ran forward and unfortunately he concussed me,” Henderson said.
“The direction that the sport is heading in as a whole, I feel like to be able to just bump someone and get away with no consequence is a little bit disappointing.
“I’m saying this for kids that are coming up or players that are coming up that may have similar problems that I have and to feel like they may not be able to play footy and may not be protected, is something that’s a little bit hard for me to swallow.
“No matter who the individual is, no matter the circumstance, I think if you do choose to bump someone and do get it a little bit wrong and someone’s concussed, you probably should wear a few weeks.
“I’ve got nothing against St Albans the club, nothing against Bailey Coutts and nothing against AFL Barwon, I just think that the direction that the AFL is heading in, we should probably be aligned with that.”
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Originally published as St Albans player Bailey Coutts cleared over Darby Henderson bump incident as Cats star completes contact training
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