Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley believes club staff cutbacks as a result of COVID-19 could’ve been the reason why Sydney debutant Sam Wicks was able to wear illegal boots which led to Pies youngster Isaac Quaynor’s horrific leg injury.
The 20-year-old left the Gabba on a stretcher on Thursday night after Wicks’ boots caused a gruesome cut on Quaynor’s shin during the final quarter of their dramatic nine-point win.
“There are players in the competition who have been wearing boots direct from manufacturers that feature screw-in studs that have a hybrid soleplate, which includes both plastic and aluminium stops, and these are not compliant with AFL regulations,” AFL football boss Steve Hocking clarified in a statement on Friday.
“It is the responsibility of clubs and players to work with manufacturers to ensure football boots worn by all players are compliant with AFL regulations and ensure a duty of care to themselves, their teammates and opposition players.”
AFL clubs have been forced to slash staff as a result of the ongoing pandemic and Buckley wonders whether the shifting roles of many in football clubs may have led to the Swans first-gamer being allowed to play with illegal studs.
“That has been one of the challenges that hasn’t been discussed as much over the past four to six weeks, when we’ve focused on what’s happening on field and less behind the scenes,” Buckley told reporters on Sunday.
“Funnily enough we don’t have a boot-studder (which has been Neil Price) on staff at the moment and I don’t know if many teams would.
“Personally when you sort of dig deeper into the issue I’m not actually sure if metal studs are the issue, for me it would actually be more of the shape of the studs, are they sharp or do they have a pointier end than the blades or moulded studs that we have used recently.
“I think it is probably a few things that have come together, the Queensland grounds are a little bit softer, they are a bit heavier under foot and can get slippery so probably you have players wearing longer stops than they had before.
“I know clearly the rule against metal studs and stops have been there but I would suggest it is more the shape of them and really the boot-studders are the ones who make sure that the boots comply and we sort of move on.
“The compliance can get a little bit grey and I think we’ve seen evidence of a few of those compliance issues not being attended to because of the changes in responsibility in football clubs and the AFL widely.
“It is probably one of those ones where a few things came into play, a bit of misfortune as well but the AFL has now cleared them up.”
The AFL have since threatened fines of up to $40,000 for any club who allows players to wear illegal hybrid stubs after issuing a formal warning last week.
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