Essendon coach Brad Scott has addressed the situation late in the game which resulted in Tom Edwards being removed from the game.
The AFL arc mandated Edwards, who has been a revelation as a marking forward in recent weeks, be removed from the game following a head knock, despite the Bombers' doctor having assessed and cleared him.
“It's frustrating but situations like this necessitate some change in procedure which the AFL have done so we're very conscious that we've dealt with that behind close doors and the AFL have talked to the procedures and what they will do going forward so we're happy with that,” Scott said at his weekly press conference.
“The reality is, personally I'm very supportive of having spotters in the arc alert the medical team to something they may have missed because they're treating another player or are busy doing other things but I never thought the purpose of the arc was to have someone on a TV screen overrule a doctor doing an assessment in person.
“We had Tom Edwards off the ground, he was assessed, he was cleared and then a mandatory call to take him off again so that is clearly not the way it's supposed to work in my view but the powers that be will clarify that.
“We can be frustrated but the most important thing is it's addressed.”
It occurred at a critical stage with Essendon going down by just nine points.
The AFL is subsequently set to change procedure to ensure the head doctor's decision will take precedent over the doctor in the arc.
Scott also praised Elijah Tsatas, who backed up his 29-disposal performance on return to the AFL in Round 5 with a 25-disposal effort on Saturday.
The Pick 5 from the 2022 AFL National Draft has been forced to spend extensive periods of his career so far in the VFL, with just 18 games at the top level under his belt, but is reaping the reward of his hard work.
“He's elite at some things and other things he just needed to bridge the gap but that's a coaching responsibility as much as a player responsibility,” Scott said following Essendon's win over Melbourne.
“He just stacked good performances on top of good performances at VFL level and when he was playing well at VFL level, he still wasn't doing the things we needed him to do to an AFL standard - just a couple of things - and to his credit, he went away and worked with the coaching group and got reward for that.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Scott added: “I have spoken about it in the last couple of weeks and I love these rewards for effort stories. Everyone sees the reward publicly but they don't see the effort behind the scenes. He's had some things to work on and to his credit, he's gone to work on it.”
