The AFL world is thinking of Sydney Swans defender Paddy McCartin after the former No.1 draft pick suffered an innocuous head knock that saw him take no further part in his side’s loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday night.
A young man that has faced so many challenges throughout his career, McCartin suffered his tenth concussion in the AFL since debuting for St Kilda back in 2015.
As is the case with any head injury, the AFL and clubs take a very cautious approach in getting the player back to full health and playing again.
But given this is McCartin’s tenth concussion and all we know with seriousness around head trauma, is it time for the AFL to step in and say ‘enough is enough?’
SEN’s Garry Lyon, who has a close relationship with McCartin and his family, provided an insight into the situation.
“I think it’s important to give some context,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast on Tuesday morning.
“Any perception that Paddy is recklessly playing and or going against the opinion or not listening to family and friends (is wrong).
“In his own mind last year, and when I spoke to him it was really important, he said, ‘no no, I did all this work with all these people and including the AFL’.
“The Sydney Swans wouldn’t take a risk on him unless he cleared himself and jumped through all the hoops.
“He said, ‘at any time throughout that process if someone turned around and said ‘Paddy you can’t play’, I’d retire.’
“That is his mindset.
“The hard thing now is that we’re forever evolving and learning about concussion, there will be people going that whatever information he is getting, I’m telling you it’s different, this is what I think.
“The general public then goes, ‘there’s the medical professional saying that you shouldn’t be playing, so why are you playing?’
“But then Paddy would say, ‘okay that’s one side of it but I’ve done this, I’ve been overseas and they say I can play’.
“I want Paddy to go through every single thing before he recommences footy.
“I’m not defending his right to come back, as I said, all I care about is him.”
Eight concussions forced McCartin into early retirement at St Kilda at the end of 2019 before he was thrown a lifeline by the Swans in 2022.
Lyon says the symptoms McCartin was battling during his time at the Saints are not the same he is dealing with now.
“When he had the early concussions at St Kilda, his incidents of having attitudes to light and nausea, he’s had none of that with this,” he said.
“He’s got the headaches of course, but what does that mean? I don’t know, we’re not doctors, none of us know, it’s an area where we’ve been discussing more and more and more.”
Calls have come for the AFL and those close to McCartin to step in and force the 26-year-old into retirement, conversations Lyon says are not right given how caring the family has been throughout this process.
“Can we just say this, all of those things (health and safety protocols) are happening, but this flippancy that emerged early with people saying, ‘he needs the family to intervene, is just bulls--t, the family have been with him and by his side inclusive of all of these decisions every single step of the way and what is best for Paddy will be the decision they arrive at, as hard as it all is,” Lyon added.
The Swans will obviously follow the AFL’s normal return-to-play protocols, which rules McCartin out of playing for 12 days.