AFL great Garry Lyon has slammed Adelaide defender Jordon Butts for “macho bullshit”.
It comes after the defender came back onto the field against Geelong after a collision with teammate Lachlan McAndrew, which left him dazed.
The Adelaide doctors took a while to bring him from the field, before he swiftly returned and played out the game.
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Jordon Butts of the Crows receives medical attention. Getty
But it has since been revealed that Butts has been diagnosed with a delayed concussion, and ruled out of this week’s clash with Fremantle.
Lyon has slammed the situation and called for players and clubs to take concussion and head knocks more seriously.
“Concussion remains one of the biggest issues in football, one of the biggest challenges in football,” a passionate Lyon told SEN on Tuesday.
“There are complexities surrounding players who have had their careers ended and lives uprooted on the back of concussion.
“So, to Jordon Butts, when you get whacked in the head, as you did on Thursday night… What is this macho bullshit of shrugging off the doctor and saying, ‘get out of my way, I’m good enough, I’ll stay out there’, when the prudent, responsible course of action is to get yourself off the ground, do the HIA, take the pressure off the doctors and the coaches who are sitting in the box.
“We had this farcical situation unfolding with Jordon Butts who gets hit in the head, looks dazed but decides in the best interest of everyone, ‘I’ll stay out here because I don’t know why’.
“Who do you think you’re impressing? Who do you think you’re really impressing by staying out there when you’ve been dazed and the doctor is circling you. Get off the ground.
“Yet, for some reason, we have this outdated, ‘oh, I won’t come off, I’m tough’. Get off the ground.
“As it turns out, we had the circus going around where the Adelaide doctors looked at it and couldn’t get him off or didn’t get him off and then we had to get the intervention from upstairs and they said, ‘No, no, get that man off’ and then they got him off. They did the HIA, I think he came back on and now, lo and behold, delayed concussion symptoms and he’s going to miss the next two weeks.
Garry Lyon, Victorian chief selector for State of Origin. Nine
“Take responsibility, players, for the whole playing cohort. Not just for your own ego by thinking I’ll stay out because I’m tough. That’s not helping anyone these days.
“Take responsibility, do the right thing, get off the ground, do your HIA. If you’re no good you’re not coming back on. If it’s all ok you’re back on and you’ve missed five minutes.
“Doing this and trying to hoodwink doctors is not impressing anyone and it’s not helping anyone in the whole process. So do the responsible thing and get off the ground.”
Just last year, the AFL medically retired West Coast great Jeremy McGovern, after its concussion panel deemed he had taken too many hits to the head.
The likes of Melbourne star Angus Brayshaw, Collingwood pair Nathan Murphy and Josh Carmichael and West Coast premiership player Daniel Venables all also retired due to ongoing concussion issues in recent years.
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