Despite being cleared by a specialist review panel of any serious concussion damage, Western Bulldogs midfielder Tom Liberatore is still under the watchful eye of “nervous” coach Luke Beveridge.
It comes after he was ruled out “indefinitely” after suffering a nasty concussion in his side’s seven-point loss to Hawthorn in round eight.
Then, after two weeks on the sidelines, the 31-year-old was given the green light to return to senior football, with the club confirming he will be available for selection in “two to three weeks”.
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Head of sports medicine, Chris Bell, confirmed the news.
“We have continued to be very diligent and thorough in our processes for assessing and managing Tom following his most recent concussion in round eight,” Bell said on Monday.
“This has involved specialist review and opinion to help guide his return to play planning.
“In some great news, after some reassuring results, we have a devised a structured return to play plan, that if everything goes well, will see Tom returning to play across the next two to three weeks.”
But even with the positive update, Beveridge is keen to play it safe with Liberatore’s return.
“It’s not like he’s just out of the woods and he comes back and plays and everything’s OK,” Beveridge told reporters on Tuesday.
“Each time anyone who’s never had a concussion goes for the footy in a collision-type situation, you hold your breath.
“Sometimes you even think ‘don’t go for this one, happy for him to mark it’, whatever it may be.
“With Tom, when he comes back there’ll still be that nervousness that he might cop another knock.
Now, Beveridge and his coaching team are working to provide new strategies to ensure Liberatore’s head is protected when he does return.
“I was talking to him this morning around technique and craft and some of the situations where he’s been hit in the head and what we can do to mitigate against it happening again,” he said.
“We’ll do a bit of work with that in between now and when he returns to play, ground-level stuff, just charge in head first.
“We can do it other ways, which he has in the past. We’ll work through that with them. It’s not like we just go everything’s OK. We’re still a bit nervous.”
Melbourne’s Angus Brayshaw, Collingwood’s Nathan Murphy and Bulldogs draftee Aiden O’Driscoll, who didn’t play a senior game, have all been medically retired in 2024.
The Bulldogs sit 11th on the ladder with a 5-5 record.
They face off against the Swans on Thursday, who are two games clear on top of the table.