NRL club doctors are considering adopting the AFL’s new concussion ban rule after a Newcastle player was allowed to remain on the field in a heavily concussed state on Sunday.
NRL chief medical officer Ron Muratore had already organised a meeting of club doctors on Thursday to discuss the issue before Knights forward Richie Fa’aoso’s incident against Manly, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Knights club doctor Peter McGeoch admitted team officials had been mistaken that Fa’aoso could not be replaced during a scrum, but says the referees should have intervened after he face-planted on the ground following a tackle.
''I spoke to our trainer [Graham Perkins] today about it, and he said to me he thought he was going to get punched in the mouth,'' McGeoch said. ''Players can become confused and aggressive when they get concussed so I think it would have been better if the referee had stopped play to enable him to be assessed.''
Fa’aoso slammed into the ground after the tackle and stumbled along the field as he tried to rejoin the defensive line; a Perkins tried to take him off but Fa’aoso didn’t seem to be coherent.
When Fa’aoso came to the sideline the first time, he immediately had to return to the field for the scrum – to the commentator’s great vexation.
“How ridiculous,” said a vehement Phil Gould.
It was an unfortunate outing for the Knights who – along with losing to Manly – suffered a number of injuries to players.
At the time of the Fa’aoso incident, McGeoch was treating Beau Henry – who was cleared of a broken ankle yesterday – Shannon McDonnell, also concussion, and utility Ben Rogers for a dislocated shoulder.
McGeoch says by the time he got to the sideline, Fa’aoso was already off the field.
He later examined Fa’aoso in the dressing room before clearing him to return when Cameron Ciraldo was taken off with a torn pectoral muscle.
Ron Muratore says his personal view was that the NRL should adopt the recently introduced AFL guidelines that automatically prevent medics from allowing concussed players to return to the field.
''It is something we have been looking into for some time, and there is a project in place that Richard Parkinson, a neurosurgeon, is doing that looks at head and neck injuries,'' he said. ''It is a two-year study, and is not complete, but I think that we should look at the guidelines now to see if they need to be more stringent,” Mr Muratore told The Sydney Morning Herald.
The chief medical officer said if there is enough support among club doctors, they would recommend new policy to the NRL that could be in place by next weekend.
''Obviously, I would need to talk to the NRL but I wouldn't imagine that would take long to implement,'' he said. ''I would imagine it will happen fairly well straight away.''
The NRL has reminded clubs that a genuinely injured player can be replaced during a scum if the referee has signalled time-off.
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source: newshub archive
