West Coast Eagles General Manager Gavin Bell has addressed the comments made by Jake Waterman’s father Chris overnight.
Speaking to SEN WA on Monday, two-time premiership Eagle Chris Waterman said he was disappointed with the way the Eagles handled his son’s illness which saw Jake admitted to a hospital with a rare and serious health concern.
Waterman said the club only first made contact with his son on the Monday in hospital after he was sent home from Adelaide on the Saturday.
Coming out of contract at the end of the year, Waterman says the club would want to put some time into his son if they want to keep him on their list.
“The club's got a lot going on obviously, but the family and friends are 24/7 around the clock checking in on him just to make sure everything's right, he said.
“They could have probably reached out a bit earlier to check on him, I would have thought.
“To send him home from Adelaide pretty crook and to find out when he was in hospital on Monday night was the first time they contacted him … it was a bit disappointing.
“I would have thought they'd reached out and just checked on him.
“Since then, they now know it's pretty serious and they've got to do what they can do. They've got to act on it and make sure they keep their eye on him if they want him on the list.
“He's a 25-year-old coming out of contract. Put some time into him I would have thought.”
However, the Eagles and Bell have a different side of the story.
Bell says the club were in constant contact with Waterman on the Saturday and the days following.
“Just like to take this opportunity to clarify Jake’s situation post the Adelaide game,” Bell told the club's official website.
“It was decided during the game that the best thing to do for Jake was to get him home so we did that with the medical advice.
“Before we left Adelaide, I contacted Jake to make sure he got back fine and I received a message that he was back and okay.
“During the course of Sunday, our club doctor made contact with Jake on numerous occasions just to check in and make sure he was doing okay. During the afternoon, his condition deteriorated a little bit, so we got him into a sports GP clinic where he went and there was a consequent follow-up from there.
“On the Monday, when our club doctor checked in again, Jake’s condition had deteriorated, and the decision was made to contact a specialist in the area and from those conversations we were able to admit Jake straight into hospital and receive the care that he needed.
“In that period of time, including myself, we made contact with Jake just to make sure he was okay and if there was anything we needed but he was pretty unwell at that period of time too.”
Jake Waterman has kicked 79 goals from 84 career games since making his debut in 2018.
The 25-year-old has kicked 11 goals in 11 games this season.