Melbourne ‘bemused’ by unwell defender Harrison Petty’s sudden health troubles in win over Brisbane

“Bemused” Melbourne officials are investigating Harrison Petty’s apparent delayed concussion symptoms during their thrilling two-point win over Brisbane at the MCG on Sunday.

Petty turned the ball over with a stray kick-in late in the third quarter and immediately squatted with a hand on the ground to support himself.

But he was just as quickly back up and walked unsteadily over to teammate Blake Howes, who raised the alarm to umpires and medical staff.

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“It had all the hallmarks of lightheadedness,” Alister Nicholson said on Channel 7.

Brian Taylor added: “Absolutely it did. Even some help from his teammate, he realised straight away that he needed some help — says to the umpire that we need to get this bloke off.”

Petty, who had played every minute of the game to that point, walked slowly off the field in the arms of trainers.

“He’s certainly got symptoms of concussion,” Richardson later told Channel 7.

“We’re a little bit bemused as to how and whether it’s delayed concussion.

“There was nothing in an incident that led to him going off the ground so we presume it must have been a knock he got earlier.”

He praised Howes for looking out for his teammate.

“Really good,” Richardson said.

“The whole industry’s really well educated in terms of making sure we look after people with head knocks.”

Petty watched the finish from the bench before celebrating with teammates.

“It was very scary,” teammate Daniel Turner told AAP.

“You never like to see anyone like that, especially one of your teammates. But I saw him after the game and he seemed in good spirits and he seemed fine, so hopefully he’s all good.”

Speaking after the match, Melbourne coach Steven King said the club was still investigating.

“We’re still having a bit of a look at that. It was potentially a bit of the delayed concussion or something. So we’ll do the right tests,” King said.

“We’re not 100 per cent sure yet, but he was complaining of some blurred vision.

“So we’ll do all the tests tonight and tomorrow and I’ll let you know as soon as we find out. But obviously, not great.”

King said Petty felt he probably should have stopped the game before taking the kick-out, but hadn’t felt any symptoms prior to then.

“So whether it was anything else more sinister, whether it was delayed concussion, we’ll have a look at it,” King said.

“We’re obviously going to take it pretty seriously and we’ll do the due diligence to make sure he’s OK.”

Brisbane’s Noah Answerth was concussed in the fourth quarter after he was bumped by Kysaiah Pickett into Brody Mihocek.

He failed a head injury assessment (HIA) called by the AFL review centre (ARC).

“I was a little bit surprised when he came off and they told me that he was in the protocols, in the ARC,” Fagan said.

Answerth was playing his first game back after missing two games with concussion.

“He’s had a few concussions, yeah, so we’re in the lap of the gods on that one,” Fagan said.

“The main thing is what’s good for his health.”

When asked if he was concerned it could be a long lay-off, Fagan said: “I don’t know. It’ll all depend how he responds, I guess … the AFL can ask for extra tests and things like that, so I don’t know whether Noah will become one of those people that go into that category or not, so we’ll just have to wait and see on that.”

The Lions, who had earlier lost Jarrod Berry to a calf problem, led by 16 points at half-time but Melbourne got on top in the third term.

An extraordinary back-and-forth punctuated by brilliant individual efforts from Kade Chandler and Charlie Cameron produced a tense finish that went down to the wire.

But Cam Rayner’s late miss cruelled the Lions’ charge as dual Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale (300) and premiership teammate Josh Dunkley (200) marked their milestone games with a defeat.

Melbourne’s win over the reigning premiers was a much-needed return to form following last week’s shock defeat to Essendon.

“That’s got to be right up there with one of the best wins I’ve played in. That was unreal,” Chandler told Channel 7.

“We know that they’re probably the measuring stick of the competition, they’re unbelievable off the back of two flags.

“We knew we had to respond from last week and it all started around contest. I thought the boys down back and the big boys up forward were unbelievable today.”

The Dees (4-2) now sit eighth on the ladder spot ahead of Brisbane (3-3).

– with AAP