West Coast coach Andrew McQualter: Eagles still in dark as to when Jeremy McGovern will face concussion panel

Waalitj Marawar (West Coast) are still in the dark as to when club great Jeremy McGovern will face a concussion panel to decide his future.

McGovern is still in concussion protocols from a head knock he received against Narrm (Melbourne) earlier this month and given his history he will now have his future decided by a panel of independent experts.

The 33-year-old is only three games short of the 200-match milestone and is already signed on from next season after earning his fifth All-Australian blazer in 2024.

McQualter said McGovern would take some time away from the club while they’re in Adelaide to take on the Crows as he awaits a date with the panel.

“Gov is doing OK. The unknown is a bit of a challenge but he’s doing OK,” McQualter said.

“He’ll have a couple of days off work as we go to Adelaide this weekend, and then it’s just so uncertain at the moment what happens next.

“We can’t speculate too much on what will happen next. We know it’s going to the panel, and when that’s decided and when that will happen, we’re not sure yet. We’ll just wait and see and keep supporting McGovern through the process.”

An AFL spokesperson told The West Australian: “While the AFL Chief Medical Officer oversees the process, the Concussion Panel is comprised of independent medical experts who are not employed by the AFL.

“The Panel consists of healthcare practitioners with specific experience and expertise in the management of Sports Related Concussion.

“The composition of the Panel will largely depend on the clinical questions being asked but may include Neurologists, Neurosurgeons, Rehabilitation Medicine Physicians, Psychiatrists, Sport and Exercise Medicine Physicians, Physiotherapists, Neuropsychologists and others.”

McQualter said their support for McGovern would be day-by-day but wouldn’t go into any details around the signs he was displaying.

“We understand it’s a challenging time, but Gov’s been doing this for a long time. He’s a very mature guy he’s got a great family and network around him as well,” he said.

“The reason why Gov has gone to a panel is because there’s been a number of concussions over a period of time. It’s out of our hands now and we’ll just leave it to the experts.”

McQualter said the vice-captain continued to play a role at the club, but they would not make big decisions around his role until they had further clarity.

“Gov is one of our leaders and he’s one of our terrific leaders,” he said.

“He’s been involved all week in our leadership meetings and our meetings in general but because we don’t know when the panel is going to get together, we’re not going to make too many other decisions around him yet.”

McQualter’s first year at the helm of the Eagles has been full of challenges, but the loss of McGovern is compounded by the fact that star midfielder Elliot Yeo is also yet to play this season because of an ankle injury.

“I tell you what I thought about when we were having so much trouble at clearance... I saw the (stats from the) last time we played (Richmond, last year) and Yeoy had 15 clearances in a game,” McQualter said.

“Clearly you always want your best players playing but it’s also football, there’s always injuries in our game and we’ve got a deep squad.

“We’ve been incredibly healthy this year, the medical team’s doing a great job, so I don’t have too much to complain about in that position.”

McGovern’s absence comes at a difficult time for the Eagles who face the triple forward threat from Kuwarna (Adelaide) in Riley Thilthorpe, Darcy Fogarty and Taylor Walker.

Sandy Brock and Harry Edwards are set to each get a job on one of the forwards, while McQualter wouldn’t rule out co-captain Oscar Allen heading back despite kicking two goals in the win over Euro-Yroke (St Kilda) at the weekend.

“We talk about it regularly, we’re going to play Oscar wherever the team needs him,” he said.

“The Crows do have a tall forward line that they rely on a lot, so we’ve got to get our contest right in that space and we’ll pick a team we think most capable to do that.”