Saints pair not ruled out for round one
St Kilda pair Dylan Roberton and Paddy McCartin, who had health concerns that put them in hospital on Sunday night, remarkably remain hopeful that they could play round one of the season.
Roberton emerged from the club on Tuesday saying he felt fine again after having a turn at the end of the game on Sunday and he was awaiting the results of further tests but he was confident he would be fit for the season opener.
The club confirmed that the issue at the end of the game that left Roberton feeling "wonky" and treated by paramedics in the rooms was heart-related.
Roberton had a defibrillator implanted last year after he collapsed on the field due to a heart issue and missed the rest of the season. He had played a JLT game, another practice match, match simulation at training and passed stress tests before, at the end of the second JLT game, he suffered another heart irregularity.
The club would not comment on whether the defibrillator activated on Sunday.
Regardless of whether it activated, data is able to be recovered from the device for his cardiologist to assess to understand what occurred with his heart at the end of the match.
McCartin spent the night in a Ballarat hospital after his eighth concussion in five years when he was involved in a relatively minor collision in a marking contest. His symptoms were understood to have eased steadily since the incident and he remained hopeful that with a fortnight before the first game he would be yet be clear to play.
AFL football operations manager Steve Hocking said the clubs were best placed to make decisions on when players were clear to play again, but the league's chief medical officer Dr Peter Harcourt was available as support.
"We'll certainly do whatever is needed ... we won't impose ourselves on that. If required we'll definitely support where we can. That is St Kilda's story," Hocking said.
Sports cardiologist, Associate Professor David Prior, who is the deputy director of cardiology at St Vincent's Hospital and associate professor of cardiology at Melbourne University, said that previously people with defibrillator implanted had abandoned competitive sport.
He said there had been a change in attitude in recent years after professional sportspeople chose to continue competing with an implant. He said there were about 300-400 athletes around the world competing with defibrillators.
"It does seem to come at a cost that they are more likely to get shocked by their devices," Prior said.
Prior, who established Melbourne Sports Cardiology, Australia’s first specific sports and exercise cardiology clinic, stressed that he was not aware of the specifics of the Roberton case and was talking broadly about athletes with defibrillators.
"There is a bit of published work on this that high-level athletes are more likely to get shocked than people who exercise at a low level," Prior said.
"People who get shocked (by the defibrillator implant) describe it as like being kicked in the chest by a horse. Some people feel a bit funny before it happens, others feel nothing until it happens."
He said that if the defibrillator had activated, the first thing a cardiologist would want to know was if it was a mistake by the defibrillator or if it triggered properly then what caused it to trigger.
"What we do not know is whether repeated shocks have some long-term effect on the heart if you get too many of them."