The Western Bulldogs’ injury toll worsened when defender Luke Cleary was involved in a “sickening” collision in the waning moments of his team’s season-opening win over North Melbourne on Saturday night.
No replays of the incident were shown on the Fox Footy broadcast due to the high severity of the incident, which saw Cleary’s lowered head come into heavy incidental contact with the knee of North Melbourne’s Jackson Archer after the pair met at high speed.
Herald Sun chief football writer Jay Clark reported Cleary had been taken to hospital and while he was conscious and talking, he had been diagnosed with a concussion and would have scans on his head and jaw. The eight-gamer will miss at least next Friday night’s bout with Collingwood.
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In “dramatic” scenes, Dogs senior coach Luke Beveridge could be seen on the Fox Footy broadcast bolting down to ground level from the coaches’ box in what Clark reported was “out of absolute concern for his player”.
And while the condition of Cleary is of utmost concern, the focus will soon shift to any potential Match Review ramifications for Archer, as a “very difficult case” to judge looms for Match Review Officer Michael Christian.
“I’ll just note the absolute speed and velocity that the two players meet together as the head (of Cleary) goes down straight into the knee and full force of Jackson Archer. This will be a huge concern from the AFL,” Clark told Fox Footy’s Super Saturday Live.
“But at the end of the day, can it be seen that Jackson Archer approached that contest in a careless manner? Should he have slowed down to take some of that speed and velocity off that contest? That will be the big question tomorrow when he decides with the AFL powerbrokers.
“If they do decide he was careless in his approach to the football, he will be looking at a three-match suspension, because the impact has to be graded high and severe because as we can see, it’s a very severe and serious head injury.
“But at that speed, it is difficult for Jackson Archer to predict what Luke Cleary was going to do. He was up high and bent down to pick up the ball.”
Whether or not the onus falls on Archer looms as a key point of contention.
“Does Archer have enough time to adjust and pull out of the contest? It’s a very difficult one,” dual flag-winner David King noted.
“Sometimes things just happen in footy … I think Archer is unreasonable in one way but so too is Cleary. He’s got to protect himself in that instance … we don’t want players leading with their head like that, especially when there is oncoming traffic. We’ve talked about the concussion problem with people coming in a reckless fashion.
“Archer is coming at a speed where he really has no control on what sort of contact is likely to occur. That will have a bearing.”
Triple Richmond premiership forward Jack Riewoldt told the panel: “It’s probably a combination of the two poor techniques.
“There was pressure from behind as well on Cleary. I would hate to be Michael Christian in the room tomorrow because they’ll slow it down to the nth degree and one thing that is probably a bugbear on the players in the competition, and the supporters as well, is that football is not a game that is slowed down to the nth degree.”
Christian will release his Match Review findings from Saturday’s action on Sunday evening.
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