A cautious Don Pyke pointed out Geelong’s Zach Tuohy played out the game after he was on the end of a high bump that saw Adelaide Crows captain Taylor Walker reported on Thursday night.
Walker clocked Tuohy late in the opening quarter of the Crows’ 15-point win over the Cats and faces a nervous wait, with the Match Review Officer certain to take a close look.
The dazed Irishman was taken from the field but returned after passing a concussion test and finished the game.
“I can’t comment on either umpiring or reports, I’ve seen the incident but I don’t know, I haven’t looked at it in slow motion,” Pyke said when asked about the incident post-match.
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“Obviously Tuohy was able to come back on and play the game out so I’ll let the AFL deal with that.”
Pyke did reveal he spoke to Walker about the incident during the contest in an attempt to keep the skipper focused.
“We had a quick chat at quarter-time and I said, ‘Look mate, it’s happened and I think you just get on playing the game The reality is you can’t go back and do anything about it and clearly we don’t know what the outcome’s going to be and we’ve got a game to play here’, and he was fine,” the coach said.
Meanwhile, Pyke conceded gun midfielder Rory Sloane’s decision to re-sign with the Crows on a massive five-year deal this week probably contributed to Thursday’s strong showing.
“It definitely had some impact,” he said.
“It certainly would've given the players a boost but they still have to come out and play and that was the most pleasing part.”
