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AAP
AAP
Anna Harrington and Roger Vaughan

Liberatore has good news after Beveridge defends Dogs

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has defended the club following Tom Liberatore's on-field collapse. (Morgan Hancock/AAP PHOTOS)

A battery of medical tests have cleared Western Bulldogs star Tom Liberatore following the midfielder's dramatic on-field collapse.

While Liberatore will remain sidelined for Thursday night's AFL match against St Kilda, he could return for the April 27 match against Fremantle if there are no setbacks.

The news comes after coach Luke Beveridge said earlier on Tuesday that the Bulldogs had no regrets over how they initially handled Liberatore's on-field collapse.

The midfielder was ultimately put in concussion protocols.

Late in last Friday's AFL loss to Essendon, the star midfielder fell to the ground with nobody near him at Marvel Stadium, prompting opponent Darcy Parish to signal to the benches for assistance.

The midfielder had copped a heavy tackle from former teammate Jake Stringer earlier in the quarter, then a glancing bump from Bomber Nick Hind shortly before his collapse.

Liberatore told ABC Radio after the game he had lost his balance after tweaking his ankle earlier in term, declaring he had no symptoms and had full recollection of the incident.

Beveridge echoed the midfielder in his post-match press conference, because Liberatore had passed concussion tests.

But on Saturday, the Bulldogs confirmed Liberatore would sit out Thursday night's game against St Kilda due to the "concerning" footage out of "an abundance of caution".

"No regret," Beveridge said.

"Our medical staff are as cautious as anyone you've ever come across and obviously concussion is a significant thing in the game now with players' health, so we're ultra conservative.

"The interesting thing about Tom's situation was to come in and pass the concussion test and (appear) totally lucid, do interviews ... so then everything was saying that he was OK.

"But ultimately, there was an episode."

Beveridge stressed if clubs missed a potential concussion, the AFL would alert them to it.

"Because it was late in the game too, I don't think anyone was totally aware of it," he said.

"But thankfully he seems like he's OK.

Tom Liberatore and Sam Draper.
Tom Liberatore (left) tackles Essendon's Sam Draper in the Marvel Stadium contest. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)

"We're ultra conservative and our medical staff will make sure we put him through the wringer to ensure that, other than the head side of things, that everything else is in good working order, because he obviously plays an extremely combative game."

Beveridge indicated on Tuesday morning that the Bulldogs' medical staff were doing further investigations on Liberatore to see if there were issues beyond the concussion.

"They feel like there was a concussive episode that he had some delayed response to and that's what they put the stumble down to," he said.

"But he still passed all the tests.

"So that's why they're going into some other investigations to make sure there's nothing else."

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