Waalitj Marawar (West Coast) captain Liam Duggan says staff will wrap arms round Jeremy McGovern | USAEMALL.com

Waalitj Marawar (West Coast) co-captain Liam Duggan would be surprised if veteran defender Jeremy McGovern was forced into retirement due to ongoing concussion symptoms, but said his teammate’s health was more important than football.

“Health and well-being is at the forefront here for Gov now as he works through that,” Duggan said.

“He’s in really good spirits. He’s been at the club, on the training track, helping out where he can.

“I would be surprised if he did retire. I know he loves it.”

McGovern will consult an AFL concussion panel for assessment by an interdisciplinary group of experts.

He trained away from the main group at Mineral Resources Park yesterday but remains in concussion protocols following a head knock against Narrm (Melbourne) in round eight.

Depending on the panel’s findings, McGovern will face rehabilitation plans, an extension of the return-to-play timeframe, recommendations for further tests or specialist referrals, or retirement on medical grounds.

“It was a little bit of surprise, but we will just give Gov time that he needs to go through this process and as they get that panel together and we’ll just give him the space that he needs,” Duggan said.

“But I think he’s pretty keen to still be involved in what we’re doing here in the short term.

“We wrap our arms around Gov for this process that he’ll go through now.

“I don’t know a whole heap of the details. Obviously, we’ve missed him the last couple of weeks on field, but we just feel for him a little bit that he’s got to go through it. So we’ll support him where we can.”

“He’s been the same old Gov, to be honest. There’s a process that’ll play out now, and there’s not much we can do about that.”

He said McGovern had not spoken of any symptoms.

“He’s tough, but he doesn’t make it about himself, so he’s not sort of running around telling everyone how he’s feeling and that sort of thing,” Duggan said.

“But obviously he’s had a few head knocks now, so that’s why this process will be taking place.”

Duggan missed two games last season with two bouts of concussions.

“I’ve had my own concussions last year and … it is an interesting place to be, because the symptoms vary so drastically,” Duggan said.

“I was really lucky. I didn’t have any lingering symptoms, because some of our boys have got slight head knocks here, and they do last a few weeks.

“There’s so much education and awareness around it now that players feel more comfortable about taking their time in these situations. And maybe some of this now is taken out of Gov’s hands with the panel coming in.

“But, yeah, we’re very, very well prepared downstairs at this footy club now. I’m sure all the other 17 clubs are to take care of our boys when they’re in a situation like this.”

Two Eagles, Daniel Venables and Brad Sheppard, have been forced out of the game with a concussion in recent years.

“I think that’s just the nature of the whole AFL now, we’ve had our cases here where, yeah, we’ve lost a couple of our blokes to concussions, probably earlier on than they would have thought,” he said.

“I think it’s AFL wide, it’s come such a long way, even the 11 years that I’ve been playing.

“It’s come on in leaps and bounds and I think it’s for the greater good. We’re looking after our people that we put on the park every week to take the risk and we’re going to look after him. So this is just part of that.”