Nathan Buckley has slammed the AFL’s handling of the Lachie Schultz concussion controversy, accusing the league of spreading misinformation and demanding a full investigation into how a false public statement was made.
Last Thursday, Schultz was left injured on the ground during the clash at Optus Stadium, with the AFL initially claiming umpires had not seen the incident.
But audio footage aired on Seven’s The Agenda Setters revealed officials were aware of Schultz’s condition, prompting football boss Laura Kane to take responsibility.
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For Buckley, however, the biggest issue isn’t the on-field moment.
“It’s not acceptable”
“There’s got to be a huge inquest and time spent on this, and really open and transparent communication of what has occurred,” he told SEN on Wednesday. “It’s not acceptable.”
The former Magpies coach was clear in his belief that the umpires handled the situation properly, and that the real error came from higher up.
“If Laura Kane has been informed [the umpires did not see Schultz] and she’s gone with it… trusting the person that has informed her, well then it needs to go down the chain to find out who came to this conclusion without doing the work [of checking the tapes] and they need to be counselled,” he said.
“There’s going to be some people with egg on their faces. So go and get all that information. And whoever’s going to have egg on their face, make sure that the egg lands where it should, and then communicate that and accept responsibility for it.”
Buckley questioned how a group of officials who did the right thing on the night could be painted as negligent.
“I can’t see how four blokes could conspire to lie to their bosses after having handled the situation well,” he said. “I’m angry. I’m agitated… It might be a bit of PTSD, when you get in a team or an organisation and mistruths are spoken or ownership isn’t taken at different levels, it throws everything into the shadows.”