AFL issue, letters of explanation, David King says Carlton Blues must account for handling of situation with Harry McKay’s head injury, five minutes before he went to hospital for assessment of his head injury, HIA, video, latest news

The AFL has confirmed that letters will be sent to three clubs this weekend explaining the different protocols for dealing with concussions.

This was reported by Mitch Cleary of Channel 7. According to him, the clubs involved are Adelaide (Jordan Dawson), Brisbane (Harris Andrews) and Carlton (Harry McKay).

This is because the League will take a stricter approach to in-game concussions from 2024.

Watch every match of every round this Toyota AFL Premiership season LIVE with no ad breaks when playing on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial today >

Despite this, Carlton have confirmed that forward Harry McKay has been cleared of all charges following criticism over the club’s handling of an incident in which the goalkeeper appeared to be stunned following a heavy collision.

Blues coach Michael Voss defended the club’s medical, which lasted several minutes before McKay was treated. McKay scored a goal and was eventually taken off the field for examination.

He was cleared to return, had no problems after the game and on Monday further tests showed no problems again. He will take his place in the game against Port on Friday.

Several experts were critical of Carlton’s handling of the situation, but Voss was adamant that protocols were followed and that McKay “received the care he needed.”

“I can’t go into specific timelines, but what I do know is that the protocol was there and we got a notification that we had to get him off the ground,” Voss said.

“He got off the ground, went into the protocols and luckily he was able to react and he was OK. He was able to keep the game going.

“The downside was that we had to hold our tactical submarine to determine whether or not we needed to replace Harry. That may be a different discussion in the future, but certainly not today. I feel like we did what we had to do and Harry got the care he needed.”

AFL legend David King was among the chorus of experts who believe Carlton “has a case to answer” over the club’s handling of Harry McKay’s head injury on Sunday night.

In the third quarter of the Blues’ clash with North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium, a leading McKay rose to his feet during a marking contest but accidentally struck Kangaroo Eddie Ford in the back of the head.

McKay was visibly dazed after the collision, but he remained on the field for several minutes – during which time he scored a vital goal in the context of the match – before eventually leaving the ground to undergo a head injury assessment (HIA) with just seconds left in the period.

“He doesn’t look good,” Richmond triple premiership forward Jack Riewoldt said in response. “(Surely the referee is going to stop play).”

Four-time Hawthorn flag winner Jordan Lewis added: “You would stop play, allowing the doctors to come on the pitch… (but) as a player you would have to come off again.”

At the time, Carlton’s doctors were in the treatment room treating teammate Blake Acres for another injury, meaning there was initially no one available to help McKay.

Fox Footy presenter Anthony Hudson compared Sunday’s situation to recent incidents involving Geelong’s Jeremy Cameron and Port Adelaide’s Aliir Aliir.

“(McKay) sees this, he looks a bit disoriented (but) stays there,” he explained on Fox Footy’s First crack.

“He then shoots that goal before he comes off for the HIA, which he passes and comes back to the ground. But did we think that somehow he should have been off the ground long ago?”

North Melbourne Premier League player and dual player David King had no hesitation in making his position known and was very forthright.

“We don’t take it seriously if a player can stand up and wobble without being taken off the field for an assessment,” King told the program.

“I don’t care what the player does in terms of ‘yeah, it’s fine’ — it’s not his decision.

“We’ve turned the game on its head with tackling and punching, and every other little action now takes three weeks instead of just ‘yeah, let’s keep going’.

“We’ve stretched the structure of our game to the limit (but) we make this guy look like he’s got a concussion and play for the next five minutes – that’s not good enough.

“We should have an AFL representative on the ARC demanding that the player leave — where was that today? It took far too long — five minutes is too long. If we’re going to tackle this (concussion prevention) from all sides, this is an easy place to start.

“I think Carlton have a case to answer here, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the AFL responds very strongly to this tomorrow.”

Lewis shared King’s sentiments and lamented the “system” minutes after the incident.

“I still think there needs to be a better system – (McKay) was clearly shocked,” he said during the Fox Footy broadcast.

“We can see him there, he doesn’t look good, but he’s probably on the ground for an extra four or five minutes because we didn’t have a doctor or anyone else who could go out, assess the vision and clearly see that he was in shock at that point – we left him on the field.”

Three-quarters of the time, the 319 gamer doubled his displeasure.

“He stayed (there) for about six minutes,” he said. “You could see the discussions that were going on on the bench, he looked clearly shaken up by that first game.

“That will be the problem of this match, and the protocols and the (procedures) that were followed, but for me and for Jack (Riewoldt) it took far too long.”

After the match, Fox Footy’s Sarah Jones asked McKay how he was feeling.

“I feel good,” said the Blues forward. “It was nice to get a 10-minute break and then come back — I felt good.

“I think it was more of a precaution, but I feel very good, so everything is fine.

“It’s not uncommon to get a few knocks on your shoulders and the back of your head, but I felt good straight away and scored a goal, so I don’t think I could have done that if I hadn’t been feeling so great.”

The AFL is expected to announce its position on the incident on Monday.