AFL investigation into boxing incident involving Hawthorn forward Mitch Lewis drags on
Hawthorn’s Mitch Lewis will miss a third straight match since he was concussed in a club boxing session as details from the AFL’s investigation into the incident are yet to emerge.
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Concussed Hawk Mitch Lewis is set to miss a third-straight match since a club boxing incident a fortnight ago that is the focus of an AFL investigation.
Lewis has already passed the required minimum 12-day period since his concussion, but was still in Hawthorn’s rehabilitation group on Tuesday.
Less known about the AFL’s new protocols is a concussed player must also complete three main group training sessions, including one involving contact, before being eligible to play.
Hawthorn is due to play the Giants in the rescheduled contest at the MCG on Sunday, so the 22-year-old is highly unlikely to satisfy the league’s regulations for that clash.
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Coach Alastair Clarkson admitted for the first time on Saturday that his instructions to his footballers in the boxing session included head ‘tagging’, after the Hawks previously denied the head was mentioned.
Clarkson stopped the June 7 session to demand his players go harder at each other ahead of their upset win over Sydney.
Lewis was sparring with fellow key forward Jacob Koschitzke when he accidentally ducked into the latter’s uppercut and was struck in the head.
Clarkson alleges that Lewis wasn’t knocked out and was merely concussed in the incident.
“We have used the words tag and touch to the head,” Clarkson said on Saturday.
“Even in the description last week of the preparation for the drill; there were certainly no haymakers or anything being thrown.”
Hawthorn’s physical performance manager Luke Boyd said Lewis had made “steady progress” in the past week.
“We’ll see how he’s tracking through the protocols later in the week,” Boyd said.
“As with any concussion injury, we want to make sure we take a conservative approach.”
The AFL is yet to reveal the outcome of the investigation into the boxing session.
Clarko concedes head targeted in Hawks boxing drama
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has admitted for the first time that head tagging was discussed before Mitch Lewis was concussed in a club boxing session last week.
The Hawks consistently stated until now that the head wasn’t referenced in Clarkson’s directions to the playing group, after he stopped the session to demand they up the ante.
The AFL is likely to reveal its findings early next week from an investigation into the incident, which included Lewis and other key parties being interviewed.
Lewis will miss a second-straight match on Sunday, with Clarkson saying the AFL’s 12-day concussion protocols “didn’t kick in early enough for him to play”, even though the incident was on Monday last week.
He alleges that Lewis wasn’t knocked out and was only concussed when his sparring partner, fellow key forward Jacob Koschitzke, made connection to the head with an uppercut.
There is vision of Lewis ducking into the hit from Koschitzke, and the coach said the incident was “a genuine accident”.
“We have used the words tag and touch to the head,” Clarkson said.
“Even in the description last week of the preparation for the drill; there were certainly no haymakers or anything being thrown.
“We wanted our players to protect (themselves) but … tagging the head and tagging the body were the directions they were given.
“This was a low punch that was a body punch and it unfortunately resulted in Mitch being concussed … he wasn’t knocked out, he was just concussed and rattled a little bit.”
Asked for clarification on his head-tagging instructions, Clarkson said: “I’ve done about 40 questions on it, so you write whatever you want on it.”
The Hawthorn players weren’t wearing headgear for the session, but Clarkson said expert opinion differed on its value in boxing or a football match.
“This argument has been going on and debated for a long, long period of time,” he said.
“There are some who would argue that wearing headgear actually increases the surface area of the target, in essence, which is the head.”
Former Fremantle and St Kilda coach Ross Lyon was critical of Clarkson this week, saying he would be “getting terrorised” if he was a “young, struggling coach” as opposed to one who’s won four flags.
However, Clarkson dismissed suggestions he and other club figures, including chief executive Justin Reeves and assistant coach Craig McRae, had been flippant about the circumstances around Lewis’ brain injury.
He said he and Hawthorn in general prioritised the protection and welfare of their footballers.
Clarkson also said removing boxing from the training program would be a “severe reaction to an accidental outcome”.
“These types of things happen – not on a frequent basis, but they do happen,” he said.
“Part of the things we do, whether it’s on-field or off-field, is, in actual fact, to prepare our players to protect themselves in a way that allows them to play a collision sport and do it as safely as they possibly can.
“To prepare them to do that, sometimes you have to put a little bit of risk into your training, whether that’s on-field or off-field.
“Now, we want to mitigate that risk as much as we possibly can and, in this instance, it was just a genuine accident.
“The investigation is being run by the AFL and internally within our club, but the last thing we want to do is have a player unavailable because we’ve hurt one another at training.”
LYON SLAMS BOXING SESSION ONLY CLARKO COULD GET AWAY WITH
Rebecca Williams
Former St Kilda coach Ross Lyon claims Alastair Clarkson would be “getting terrorised” if he was a young coach in the AFL over the boxing session that left Mitch Lewis concussed.
The AFL is investigating the incident at the request of the AFL Players’s Association after Lewis was knocked out while sparring with teammate Jacob Koschitzke.
The incident occurred on Monday last week, after Hawks coach Clarkson interrupted the boxing session to demand more intensity and toughness from his players.
Lyon suggested Clarkson’s reputation had allowed him to escape more scrutiny over the incident.
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The former Saints and Fremantle coach said he would not have been happy if it had been his son injured in such a training incident at the club.
“If it wasn’t Alastair Clarkson and his reputation and that was a young coach and a struggling coach, they would be getting terrorised,” Lyon said on Footy Classified.
“My view, if that was my son and you’re going to football training and you get knocked out (you ask) ‘How did you get knocked out?’. ‘I was boxing’. ‘Did you have a head guard on?’. My understanding is no.
“In the context of concussion, everything we are going through, I think (for Clarkson) to say he zigged when he should have zagged … it’s a significant workplace environment. I don’t really like it.”
The Hawks went on to claim an upset win over Sydney last Friday night and Lyon said there was an argument the session could be viewed as a “great bit of coaching.”
But he said he was not comfortable with it and nor would all the players have been.
“But then you’ve got to ask, well they won. So it’s a great bit of coaching from a coaching perspective but does the end justify the means? I would say no,” Lyon said.
“Do you want your son going to training and getting knocked out boxing? Because there would be a number of players that really wouldn’t want to have done it.
“He’s been knocked out at training, boxing.”
Hawks submit to ‘safety first’ after boxing incident
– Marc McGowan
Hawthorn will reassess how it can more safely include boxing in its training program in the wake of Mitch Lewis being knocked out last week.
The AFL is investigating the incident at the request of the AFL Players’ Association, and Hawks chief executive Justin Reeves confirmed the two parties were in contact across the weekend.
The incident occurred on Monday last week, after coach Alastair Clarkson interrupted the boxing session to demand more intensity and toughness from his players.
Lewis and fellow forward Jacob Koschitzke were sparring, with vision of the session showing the latter accidentally connected to a ducking Lewis’ head with an upper cut that left him concussed.
However, Hawthorn is adamant Clarkson did not refer to or condone hits to the head at the time he requested his footballers up the ante.
The players weren’t wearing head gear during the boxing session.
“This is a really unfortunate one. It’s been a part of our program for a long time and our guys, led by (head of football) Rob McCartney, have done a pretty thorough investigation,” Reeves told SEN.
“As much as we’d love to sensationalise it; it does look like a really unfortunate training accident.
“I know someone (Clarkson and assistant coach Craig McRae) said he zigged when he should have zagged, but I’ve seen a bit of the vision and, unfortunately, his head lowered just at the time a body punch collected him on the scone a bit.
“(Lewis) is a terrific young fella. Putting anyone out with concussion is terrible and it’s a really serious issue, concussion, and something our guys have treated really seriously.”
The Hawks and the AFL will work closely on the matter to “make sure the best result is achieved”, Reeves said.
“I think anything you do; you need to make sure safety is first,” he said.
“There are people far more equipped than I am, who will sit down and say, ‘If this is to continue; what’s the best and safest way we can do this?’.
“If there is any risk to the player; I’m sure they’ll address that and adapt accordingly.”
Last week, the AFLPA’s general manager of legal and player affairs, James Gallagher, said his organisation took head injuries to players “very seriously”.
“We became aware of a potential issue at Hawthorn via media reports late last week and have asked the AFL to make inquiries about the incident,” Gallagher said.
“We are awaiting further details.”
Clarkson said post-match on Friday that boxing was part of the club’s program “every particular week” and this was “just an unfortunate incident”.
“We were doing some sparring on Monday and Mitch zigged when he should have zagged and got a knock to his scone, so hopefully he’ll be OK for us to play next week,” Clarkson said.
Hawks assistant Craig McRae gave the same explanation during a pre-game radio interview, while the club did not refer to boxing on Thursday when revealing Lewis suffered a head knock at training.
Any AFL player who sustains a concussion must enter the league’s new 12-day concussion protocols before being eligible to play again, including completing three training sessions with the main group.
One of those sessions must involve contact.
Concussion has become one of the game’s biggest issues, even before ex-Tiger Shane Tuck – son of Hawthorn legend Michael – took his own life in July last year.
Post-mortem analysis revealed Tuck was suffering from a severe case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain condition linked to repeated hits to the head.
Tuck was the third former AFL footballer found to have the condition, but it can only be diagnosed after death.
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