MELBOURNE midfielder-forward Tom Sparrow has entered the AFL’s concussion protocols following a brutal blow to the head in an incident involving North Melbourne ruckman Tristan Xerri at the MCG.

Sparrow was knocked out before he hit the ground by a swinging arm, before being taken off the MCG on a medi-cart, while play stopped for more than five minutes late in the last quarter of the Demons’ 36-point win over the Kangaroos on Sunday.

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The 25-year-old was alert and talking in the rooms with family, friends and teammates after the game and doesn’t need to head to hospital for further assessment at this stage, although Melbourne will continue to monitor him over the coming days.

“That was my first concern coming into the room to see how Tommy was. He is up, he is talking, he has his family and friends around him,” Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said on Sunday night.

“The pleasing thing is he is up and about, but he goes straight into the protocols. We will take no risk with Tom.

“He will get monitored really closely by our medical team. They will make the best decision there. He is up talking, can remember the majority of the game. That’s a good sign, but clearly he is going to be monitored quite closely by our medical team.”

Goodwin chose not to comment on the nature of the incident but the 2021 premiership coach was thrilled with the response from Sparrow’s teammates at a time when the game was essentially over.

“I haven’t had a good look at it, and I don’t want to make any real comment on it other than my concern was for Tom and his family,” Goodwin said.

“It looked nasty, and clearly when someone goes down like that who you love and care about, like his teammates do, they are going to rally around him, which they did.”

Melbourne captain Max Gawn led an angry response after the incident, before vice-captain Jack Viney and four-time best and fairest winner Clayton Oliver nailed clean, but strong tackles on Xerri.

“You love that about your team, when you have someone that you care about and love a lot, they stick up for them. The response from his teammates was outstanding,” he said.

“I think this is the big part of what we are doing is being a great teammate. You saw today when Tom went down the response from the guys around him and the team was outstanding. That’s what you love and that’s what we are building.”

Hawthorn midfielder Conor Nash received a four-game suspension after a swinging arm in a tackle left Geelong forward Gryan Miers with a concussion on Easter Monday, while Fremantle’s Patrick Voss was banned for three games for striking Richmond’s Nick Vlastuin in a crude tackle during Gather Round.

North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson said he didn’t believe Xerri’s intent should result in a suspension for a tackle that was poorly executed, pointing out the concussion Luke Davies-Uniacke suffered in a collision with Western Bulldogs star Ed Richards last Thursday night.

“It is pretty hard going from competing in the ruck with big Max to then trying to lay a tackle within a split second. It’s unfortunate for Tom, but injuries happen. We had LD [Davies-Uniacke] knocked out last week with an elbow to the head in a contest. It’s swings and roundabouts,” Clarkson said.

“When it’s a competitive game of footy and there are lots of numbers around the ball, sometimes accidents like that are going to happen.

“Our view is there was every intent from big X to lay the tackle and he didn’t have enough time to lay it in a correct manner.

“They [The AFL] will look at every concussion, but they looked at LD’s case last week and said no case to answer. That was a raised forearm to the scone. This was just a tackle. He had very, very little time to prepare for the tackle. That will be up to the AFL to work out.”

Melbourne ended a five-game losing streak on Sunday to move up to six wins, jumping out of the bottom four over Essendon, while North Melbourne remains on four wins after round 18.