St Kilda pair Nick Riewoldt and Paddy McCartin have both pulled up well from concussion, but will be examined throughout the week before being declared available to face Hawthorn, says GM – Football Performance Jamie Cox.

Both Riewoldt and McCartin departed Saturday’s match against Collingwood just before half-time, with the Saints captain collected high by Magpies midfielder Levi Greenwood, whilst McCartin was the victim of his own bravery when taking a courageous grab running back with the flight of the ball.

“Nick’s good today, both he and Paddy are here. They’ve both come through it pretty well I think,” Cox told reporters at Linen House Centre on Monday.

“They’ll both go through the normal medical processes and that’s exactly the way we’ll treat it like we would any case of concussion. This is very much a medical decision not a football decision.”

Cox explained the Saints decision to prevent Riewoldt from returning to the field of play despite passing a concussion test, indicating that part of the assessment was only one criteria when it comes to how St Kilda deals with player welfare.

“The actual test itself is only one part of the process to determine whether someone is able to keep going or not,” Cox said.

“We’ve been quite public in saying that the player welfare is our only priority. The doctors made a call based on a number of criteria that neither of them should continue in that game.

“We supported that call and will go through a process this week to determine whether either of them will play on Saturday.”

Given Riewoldt’s history with concussion and head knocks, Cox said it was a factor in the doctor’s assessment on the weekend.

“It is a factor, history, but it is just one of a number of factors which our doctors used on the day, we think they made the right call,” he said.

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