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Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says any strikes to ban boxing classes inside AFL golf equipment can be a “extreme response” to Mitch Lewis’ unintentional concussion.
The Hawks are underneath AFL investigation after Lewis was concussed when hit within the head by teammate Jacob Koschitzke earlier this month.
The 22-year-old ahead will miss a second straight match this weekend underneath concussion protocols that have been launched this season.
Clarkson stated his gamers’ welfare and safety of their heads is “paramount” as he defended the Hawks’ boxing session.
“Most of these issues occur, not on a frequent foundation, however they do occur,” Clarkson stated.
“A part of the issues we do, whether or not it is on-field or off-field, is, in precise truth, to organize our gamers to guard themselves in a approach that permits them to play a collision sport and do it as safely as they probably can.
“To organize them to try this, typically you need to put just a little little bit of threat into your coaching, whether or not that is on-field or off-field.
“Now, we need to mitigate that threat as a lot as we probably can and, on this occasion, it was only a real accident.”
The AFL investigation will centre round Hawthorn’s recorded imaginative and prescient of the Lewis-Koschitzke incident and interviews with gamers.
The Hawks have come underneath heavy criticism over the boxing session, which Clarkson claimed has been taken out of context in media stories.
“We have used the phrases tag and contact to the pinnacle,” the four-time premiership coach stated.
“Even within the description final week of the preparation for the drill, there have been definitely no haymakers or something being thrown.
“We wished our gamers to guard (themselves) however … tagging the pinnacle and tagging the physique have been the instructions they got.
“This was a low punch, which was a physique punch and it, sadly, resulted in Mitch being concussed.
“He wasn’t knocked out, he was simply concussed and rattled just a little bit.”
The AFL is more likely to reveal its findings from the investigation within the coming days.
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