AFLPA CEO Paul Marsh says the player governing body is looking to "gather information from all angles" to understand the decision-making behind Christian Petracca's life-threatening injury.
Petracca suffered a lacerated spleen, punctured lung and broken ribs in the King's Birthday clash against Collingwood this year, yet was able to retake the field. The initial misdiagnosis of his injury's severity, as well as a lack of care for his well-being in the following weeks of recovery, are two of the main reasons for Petracca's reported desire to move from the Demons.
Marsh said onย SEN Breakfastย he has spoken with Petracca, who has co-operated with the AFLPA's inquiry.
"Trying to understand what happened here, to Christian, and what we can learn from this moving forward is really what this is about," Marsh said.
"It's been publicised that I've met with Christian, I'm not going to get into the details of that conversation other than to say he is helping us understand this so we can look to the future."
Marsh was adamant that the inquiry would be beneficial for the AFL industry, whether the findings are public or not.
"We've got a duty to try to make the game as safe as possible for the players, and we work in conjunction with the AFL and the clubs on that.
"This is not a witch hunt, this is about trying to get to the bottom of what's happened so we can improve as an industry... Ideally, we work through this as an industry, and we make any change we think are needed.
"If we don't learn from this as an industry, there's something wrong."
However, Channel 9's Caroline Wilson believes that the findings could get "very embarrassing" for the Demons and AFL.
"This could get very embarrassing for the Melbourne football club. It could get very embarrassing for theย AFL, who through their chief medical officer and general counsel Stephen Meade, cleared Melbourne and did not send them a 'please explain' for any negligence or wrongdoing," Wilson said on Nine'sย Footy Classified.
Marsh also defended Port Adelaide's decision to sideline Zak Butters in Thursday night's qualifying final against Geelong following rib soreness that resulted in no major damage.
Marsh took offence to the comments by former Port Adelaide player and polarising media figure Kane Cornes, who stated Butters needed to "toughen up" and keep playing through the injury.
"I was really surprised that he wanted to be subbed out ... he had to push through that."
Why @kanecornes says Zak Butters needs to respond with a big performance on Friday night.#9AFLSFS | Nine & 9Now ๐ฅ๏ธ pic.twitter.com/wwNdzz5ViT
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) September 8, 2024
"He (Cornes) said "I think he has to really toughen up this week", and that's the bit we have an issue with," Marsh said.
"Whether the connotation of that is he's soft or not, that's how people have taken it... We've got a player here who's won our Most Courageous player, as voted by the players, for two years in a row.
"The bigger picture here is we've got players who are battling with this concussion epidemic in our game, we've got a player (Petracca) only a few months ago who nearly died on the field with a similar-ish injury, and I think the culture around the game needs to change... It's dangerous for people to be questioning [the doctor's decision]."
Marsh emphasised his defence of Port Adelaide's decision when on the topic of Petracca, reflecting on the potential for severity to occur again.
"We need to be conservative around these issues, it's very hard to diagnose in the moment... The risk of anyone having a spleen that bleeds out is catastrophic," Marsh said.
"That's the risk with broken ribs and players going back on, and we laud players that do that during games. But the risk of rupturing a spleen, bleeding out, is cardiac arrest. This is the sort of stuff you've got to be thinking about as an industry."
Zak Butters is likely to return against Hawthorn in a bumper semi-final clash. Plenty is on the line for the Power, with a loss ensuring back-to-back straight sets exits, as well as potentially the end of Ken Hinkley's tenure.
Despite loud noise of his aims to leave the club, Petracca looks set to remain in red and blue for 2025 after committing to the Demons through a club statement. Melbourne are continuing an external review to better the club, as Kate Roffey stood down from her role as President last week.
