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<\/p>\n
The contact resulted in a whiplash-like action where Watson\u2019s head then crashed into the UTAS Stadium turf in the second quarter of his side\u2019s win over Adelaide.<\/p>\n
But Watson was allowed to remain out on the field for almost four minutes \u2013 even getting involved in subsequent plays \u2013 before he was taken for a concussion test.<\/p>\n
Watson then did pass that test at half time.<\/p>\n
Speaking after the match, Fox Footy\u2019s Jon Ralph questioned whether Watson\u2019s removal happened in a timely manner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to the AFL and they won\u2019t go into the specifics about whether it was Hawthorn or the AFL ARC that actually intervened there,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir view is there is no strict time line on a player\u2019s removal \u2013 the doctors should move at pace to get a player off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey wouldn\u2019t clarify the exact specifics of that process.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it took about three minutes and 50 seconds from the incident to the doctor eventually taking him off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctor comes out to him pretty quickly and he seems to give him the OK. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then you can see the medicos are looking at the vision. Eventually he comes off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the issue here is because he was on the ground for nearly four minutes, he was involved in a couple of contests there. \u201cAs we know, there is a capacity for concussed players to suffer some of those issues and be more at risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree minutes 50, three minutes 45\u2026 I think all of us who saw that replay immediately knew he had to come off the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way \u2026 but do you think that now in the modern age he should be off quicker in say just less than four minutes?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nick Watson and Jordon Butts collide.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
AFL great Jason Dunstall said he would want to see Watson removed \u201ca little bit quicker\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still a work in progress in this area of the game,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone watching probably thought he needed to come straight off for a HIA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking after the match, Watson shrugged off the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah I\u2019m fine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI bounced back up on my feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys said I have a low bar in the concussion test anyway to pass \u2013 I don\u2019t know how I passed it! I struggle with it anyway even if I wasn\u2019t concussed.<\/p>\n
\u201c(We) had a bit of momentum, (I) was finally finding the footy \u2013 was pretty filthy I had to come off!<\/p>\n
\u201cWe (he and the team doctor) had a good laugh at the end of that. The test took about 10 minutes \u2013 I was filthy at that as well!<\/p>\n
\u201cGlad I passed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nick Watson speaking to Fox Footy after full time.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
At the time of the head knock, Fox Footy\u2019s commentators were concerned Watson was allowed to play on.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooked like he was in real trouble,\u201d dual premiership Roo David King said.<\/p>\n
Speaking from the boundary, Brad Johnson said Watson told medical staff he was \u201cOK\u201d to continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctor spent after this incident literally one second with Watson and asked are you OK? I think he said yes,\u201d he reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are having another look on the boundary line now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not a thorough check is it?\u201d Jack Riewoldt questioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo it\u2019s not,\u201d Johnson replied.<\/p>\n
King said it was up to the AFL to step in and protect players from themselves in these instances.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where the ARC has to intervene and say no, you take the boy from the ground and do the proper checks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey may say he\u2019s right to play, but he must be taken from the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ralph felt the act to remove Watson took too long.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, it took too long,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nick Watson was knocked down onto the UTAS Stadium turf.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doctor you could imagine as soon as you saw that vision should have got him off straight away.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d think within 30 seconds or a minute, he needed to get off that ground. Eventually at least he did get off UTAS Oval.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got the double whack \u2013 it was body on body and then the head hitting the ground,\u201d Dunstall added.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly he was stunned \u2013 you could see the eyes were rolling around in the back of the head when he goes down.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t quite know where he is.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo his credit, he got involved in the next passage of play and helped create a goal for the Hawks \u2013 but that\u2019s a double whack.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hawks coach Sam Mitchell was adamant the correct process was followed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have full faith in our medical team,\u201d Mitchell said in his post-match press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cWesty (team doctor Liam West) is probably on the \u2026 safer side of things. He went out to him straight away \u2013 he had to come off eventually \u2013 but he went out to him straight away and I\u2019ve got full faith in our medical team. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe passed the tests and all those things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The AFL is yet to reveal who was behind the call to remove Hawks star Nick Watson from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[9126,638,64,63,689,55,639,19530,7488,9203,129603,330312,3496,42251,7492,5096,1823,12149,681,330311,1168,144782,227410,3530,677,4873,64097,12936,85,330313,2801,224237,330310],"class_list":["post-685376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-adelaide-crows","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-boundary-line","tag-brad-johnson","tag-catherine-healey","tag-concussion-test","tag-double-whack","tag-dual-premiership","tag-hawks-coach","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-head-knock","tag-jack-riewoldt","tag-jason-dunstall","tag-jon-ralph","tag-liam-west","tag-medical-team","tag-nasty-head","tag-nasty-head-knock","tag-nick-watson","tag-oceania","tag-post-match-press-conference","tag-roo-david-king","tag-sam-mitchell","tag-sports","tag-strict-time-line","tag-tasmania","tag-team-doctor","tag-thorough-check"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}