After a weekend of drama, confusion and criticism from NRL coaches, CEO Andrew Abdo has been forced to defend its management of on-field concussions
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart claims RLPA “don’t trust coaches”NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo says the independent doctor in the bunker is here to stay, insisting the game has it right when it comes to identifying possible on-field concussions.
“We’re not going to take a backward step on player safety,” Abdo told AAP. “We have a responsibility to monitor all head injury events during matches. The club doctors do it on the field, the independent doctor does it from the bunker. “There are a team of people looking for when a player needs to be assessed,” Abdo said. “They will make calls based on certain things. It’s not a case of whether or not a player feels like they are fine. It’s a case of whether or not our policy dictates they need to be assessed.”
Abdo was also confident the process of having club doctors carry out on-field assessments was the right one. “These are all highly trained people and they are all carrying the wellbeing of the player at their core,” Abdo said. “A lot of people have made comment that this is a trust issue. This is not a trust issue.”
“Do you think I’d let a player play if they had a concussion or is concussed?” Stuart steamed. “When he’s down getting his leg attended to… there was no fatigue and no pain in his eyes in regards to when he came off, he was very coherent.”
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