The Western Bulldogs insist their medical staff did not put luckless midfielder Clay Smith in a position of unacceptable risk by allowing him back onto the field after suffering another serious knee injury in Saturday's AFL loss to St Kilda.
Smith left the playing arena at Etihad Stadium midway through the second quarter after tearing the ACL graft in his right knee, an injury that will require him to undergo a third reconstruction this week.
Insisting he was not feeling any pain, Smith was allowed to return to the action, only to have the knee buckle under him just before halftime.
He was stretchered from the field and took no further part in the match.
Bulldogs chairman Peter Gordon chaired a review into the circumstances surrounding the management of Smith's injury.
After suffering the initial injury, the 22-year-old was assessed by a club doctor and physiotherapist, who determined that the graft from his previous reconstruction had ruptured.
"Despite this, Clay had no pain or swelling and maintained that his knee felt fine and he was assessed to be able to cope functionally in running, jumping, twisting and weaving manoeuvres," the Bulldogs said in a statement.
"Clay was informed that despite his knee's functionality, he would need reconstruction surgery and would be out for a prolonged period.
"Clay expressed his strong desire to return to the field of play.
"The club's medical staff permitted him to do so on the basis of their clinical judgment that because the graft had already ruptured, the prospect of it being made worse by a second incident was an acceptable risk.
"The functionality of his knee in the period between the first incident and the second incident (just on halftime) was due to the strength of his knee's surrounding musculature and the second incident constituted, in essence, the failure of the surrounding musculatures ability to continue to provide stability to the knee.
"The medical staff were and remain of the view that the second incident did not clinically aggravate the injury."
This opinion was supported by the results from an MRI scan of Smith's knee taken on Sunday morning and was backed by two independent experts consulted by the review panel.
"On the basis of our inquiries and those opinions, we are satisfied that the medical judgments made by our staff were appropriate - that the second incident did not aggravate the injury and that permitting Clay to return to the field did not put him in a position of unacceptable risk," the review panel said.
The game against the Saints was only Smith's third back at AFL level after recovering from his second knee reconstruction.
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