THE ONLY quibble you could have with St Kilda's handling of Justin Koschitzke's late withdrawal against Fremantle was its lack of transparency.
The Saints told us Koschitzke would miss last Saturday's game with ankle soreness, but Tuesday's Herald Sun reported he withdrew after last week visiting a neurological specialist for brain scans.
It followed an incident in the previous round's game against Melbourne, when Demon ruckman Stefan Martin's knee cannoned into Koschitzke's head at a ruck contest. While Koschitzke played out the rest of the game, he later complained of severe head pain.
Koschitzke has history in this area. In 2006, he was involved in a sickening head clash with Western Bulldog Daniel Giansiracusa that sidelined him for more than half of that season.
Neurological tests cleared Koschitzke at that time of any brain damage and, fortunately, the Herald Sun said a visit to the same specialist last week again cleared Koschitzke of any loss of cognitive function.
Nonetheless, the Saints took the common-sense approach of ruling Koschitzke out of last round's game.
Saints football manager Greg Hutchison told the tabloid last week's scans had shown Koschitzke's brain functions were the same as when tested six years ago.
"It means there is no long-term damage likely to happen," Hutchison said.
The risks of playing players still suffering the after-affects of concussion has been highlighted by the AFL Medical Officers' Association this season, with a new guideline introduced preventing players diagnosed with concussion from returning to the field.
The announcement of the new guideline was met with a degree of scepticism, with some even suggesting players and clubs might seek to avoid concussion diagnoses to ensure they were not left a player short on the field.
But St Kilda's approach with Koschitzke suggests such cynicism is misplaced.
So, too, did its refusal to allow Nick Riewoldt back on the ground against Adelaide after his collision with Crows defender Graham Johncock. As did Richmond's earlier refusal to allow Riewoldt's cousin, Jack, to return to the field against St Kilda after he landed on his head after flying for a mark.
It seems we can be confident a player's welfare will always be put first in such situations. Which is exactly the way it should be.
Ricciuto's plan to lift Crows
Neil Craig and the Adelaide Crows are under siege at the moment. After their impressive round one win against Hawthorn, the Crows have won just two games since, against an out-of-form St Kilda in round six and AFL new boys Gold Coast in round eight.
Last Sunday, the Crows suffered the ignominy of being belted at home by the 16th-placed Brisbane Lions.
Throughout this lean stretch, Craig has endured criticism his game plan is too rigid and he has no 'Plan B' to fall back on when opposition sides get on a run.
On Tuesday, former Crows skipper and current Advertiser columnist Mark Ricciuto prescribed four options the Crows could take when the momentum next swings against them.
One, Ricciuto said, they could stick with their primary game plan, hoping their skill and structures would be enough to turn things around.
Two, they could man up at stoppages and try to beat the opposition in one-on-one contests.
Three, they could push more players around the ball at the centre bounce to give the opposition less space to run away from stoppages.
Four, they could send one or two of their forwards to the backline, so if they continued to lose the clearances further up the field, they would have the numbers in defence to win the ball back.
When he played under Craig, Ricciuto said the Crows would respond to three consecutive opposition goals by invoking option four. Once they won the ball in defence, they would then try to chip the ball around, keeping it out of the hands of the opposition and slowing the game down, he said.
However, Ricciuto said this season it seemed the Crows were simply backing their skill and primary game plan (option one). He said this ploy was not working and the Crows had not change strategic tack immediately.
We feel confident a coach as experienced as Craig is already well advanced in canvassing all of the tactical options Ricciuto has floated.
But as complex as football has become in modern times, a coach will always be hugely reliant on his players' ability to win the ball and then to hold on to it with clean disposal.
Craig's players have been doing him no favours in these fundamental areas this season.
Barlow will return to his best: Voss
If anyone's qualified to speak about horrific broken legs, it’s Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss.
The three-time premiership player badly broke a leg in a marking contest with Fremantle's Shane Parker in round 11, 1998, and was sidelined for more than half a season.
Remarkably, Voss returned in round two the following season and by the end of the year had earned his second All Australian selection.
This Saturday, Fremantle midfielder Michael Barlow will make his comeback to football with Peel Thunder in the WAFL, 11 months after suffering a broken leg that rivalled Voss' in severity.
Some have expressed doubts about whether Barlow will be able to recapture the form that made the mature-age VFL recruit such a revelation in his debut AFL season.
But Voss, who has counselled Barlow during his recovery, told The West Australian he had no such doubts.
"He’s a professional and he’s really competitive," Voss said.
"He just has to realise that the expectations he places on himself straight away should be different to what they were because they have to be two different things.
"But if he can trust the process, and take each challenge as it comes, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t get back to his best.
"The main thing I told him when we were talking at [last year's] Brownlow Medal was to respect the injury because it’s a major one.
"Sometimes you feel the need to push hard but you can’t with this one. Time is the only thing that can heal it.”
In short
Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade will meet his new manager, Sydney-based Phil Mullen, on Tuesday to discuss his long-term future, The Age reports. Eade's current contract with the Bulldogs expires at the end of this season, but Mullen told the broadsheet Eade wanted to continue coaching next season, preferably at the Bulldogs.
Richmond president Gary March told The Age and Herald Sun the club would ideally not be forced to sell home games outside Victoria, but said the Tigers played so poorly in Saturday night's loss to Port Adelaide at Darwin's TIO Stadium they "would not have won in a car park".
Former Collingwood defender Marty Clarke wants to return to the AFL, according to the Herald Sun. The tabloid cited a report in the Irish Independent that said Clarke, 23, who played 46 games for the Magpies from 2007-09, would be back in Melbourne soon on holiday and wanted to resume his AFL career. An AFL spokesman said Clarke would have to nominate for the NAB AFL Draft to do so.
Under new coach John Longmire, the Sydney Swans remain the "same old grinding Swans", with their defence still miserly and their attack still the biggest obstacle to them climbing into the top four, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
