Demons skipper Max Gawn was in significant doubt to play against Adelaide due to a shoulder tear suffered in the previous game against Port Adelaide.
Gawn said he sought a range of advice from medical experts before choosing to play against the Crows.
“I did tear something in my shoulder region,” Gawn told Fox Footy post-match.
“I had to be careful and get as much advice as possible from different people. We went to (fitness boss) Darren Burgess and he called people all over the world to see who else had the injury.
“We came to a decision that I could probably play and I trained relatively well the day before the game and was able to get out there.
“The first half took a while at times and I was thinking ‘why did I put my hand up’ but I was able to get into the game.”
“There are all things that you weight up, are you going out there recklessly just because you’re captain or is there actually some thought about going out there and there was this week.”
Gawn will have more eyes on him following comments made by coach Simon Goodwin in the aftermath of his sides 51-point win over Adelaide.
Goodwin said the club had approached the AFL about the way Gawn is being umpired, expressing concern that the star ruckman was getting help up by opposition to get to a contest.
“It was an unbelievable performance,” Goodwin told reporters post-game.
“To get up for this game, he was sore so it was unbelievable leadership to get himself up for the game in a really important match.
“Max gets a lot of attention, we continually speak to the various powers at be about the attention and he gets clearly targeted just getting to a stoppage.”
Former Melbourne great Gary Lyon said on SEN Breakfast that he will be keeping a closer eye on Gawn the remainder of the season.
“Certainly last night Adelaide went out of their way to make it difficult and little Ned McHenry was leading the charge there and that must be happening more than what we saw last night. Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.
“I don’t mind the physicality of players and sometimes you target a player but as a ruckman, you’ve got to at least get to a contest.
“It’s a bit of the Clarkson philosophy isn’t it, just pick a target and then go bang and in fact most coaches do it.”
