'Very hard': Suns coach surprised as player forced off

Gold Coast coach Rhyce Shaw was surprised and frustrated at the circumstances around Dekota Baron's removal from their narrow AFLW win over Richmond.

But Shaw was also adamant that player welfare must come first.

Baron, a Rising Star nominee this season, was floored by a nasty collision with Tigers opponent Montana McKinnon in the first quarter of Saturday's match on the Gold Coast.

Baron's head cannoned into McKinnon's hip. After initially being cleared by doctors to keep playing, the ARC (AFL Review Centre) intervened and ruled that she needed a head injury assessment (HIA).

She went off for the HIA and then returned to the game, only for the ARC to step in again a few minutes later during the second quarter and rule that Baron had to go off for the rest of the match.

Baron was emotional on the bench after being forced out of the game.

"I'm not quite sure what that looks like, but it was very hard," Shaw said post-match.

"When you go down one of your key forwards, and especially a key player like that - and 'Baz' has been in such good form - it is difficult and you have to shuffle.

"We assessed her and we cleared her to go back on. But I think it was the powers-that-be in the ARC have seen something different and so they made the judgement call to take her off.

"That's as much as I know at this point."

Shaw was then asked if he was surprised at what had happened.

"It was a bit of surprise. But that's some of the stuff we can't control," he said.

"It's frustrating at different times, but you have to do what's right for the well-being of the player.

"That's first-and-foremost what should be taken into account, at the very beginning."

Shaw was proud that the Suns hung on to win by four points, despite also losing Daisy D'Arcy to concussion in the third quarter.

"The footy gods were against us at times, losing a couple of players," he said.