Concussion Rule

[Marklar_33]

Saints medicos made a mockery of this tonight, not ruling out Nick Riewoldt at all after collecting Johncock and being clearly 'affected'. You would have to think that, keeping in mind the tightness of the contest, he was definitely concussed and should have been ruled out from the start of the last quarter, there is no room for discussion, or waiting to see if the players condition improves. If you get concussed, thats it!

If the AFL is serious, they need to appoint their own doctors for this purpose

 

[kosifantutti]

Thanks Dr Marklar but if you don't mind, I'll get a second opinion.

 

[JUBJUB]

Saints medicos made a mockery of this tonight, not ruling out Nick Riewoldt at all after collecting Johncock and being clearly 'affected'. You would have to think that, keeping in mind the tightness of the contest, he was definitely concussed and should have been ruled out from the start of the last quarter, there is no room for discussion, or waiting to see if the players condition improves. If you get concussed, thats it!

If the AFL is serious, they need to appoint their own doctors for this purpose

Why does it matter that he wasn't ruled out ?
It's not as though they had a sub available to replace him.

 

[flamethrower]

Saints medicos made a mockery of this tonight, not ruling out Nick Riewoldt at all after collecting Johncock and being clearly 'affected'. You would have to think that, keeping in mind the tightness of the contest, he was definitely concussed and should have been ruled out from the start of the last quarter, there is no room for discussion, or waiting to see if the players condition improves. If you get concussed, thats it!

If the AFL is serious, they need to appoint their own doctors for this purpose

You are making some wild assumptions here. For one Riewoldt did not take any further part in the game after he was forced from the field. Nor did he even attempt to warm up, stretch, or try to convince the medical staff that he was ok to go back on (like his cousin did a few weeks earlier).

St Kilda had already used their substitute so there was no onus on them to "officially" rule Riewoldt out by making him wear that silly red vest, so like any other injured player, he sat on the bench to see out the rest of the game and offer his support to his team mates.

Independent medical opinion would not help when diagnosing concussion as it relies as much on subjective assessment as it does on objective testing. Therefore the club doctors are in a far better position to make this call. Any suggestion that they wouldn't have the patient's health at the forefront of any diagnosis in naive in the extreme.

 

[Mkcaptain]

Saints medicos made a mockery of this tonight, not ruling out Nick Riewoldt at all after collecting Johncock and being clearly 'affected'. You would have to think that, keeping in mind the tightness of the contest, he was definitely concussed and should have been ruled out from the start of the last quarter, there is no room for discussion, or waiting to see if the players condition improves. If you get concussed, thats it!

If the AFL is serious, they need to appoint their own doctors for this purpose

Exactly what I raised on the Collingwood Board. The AFL needs to bring in independent judges.