Sydney Roosters doctor Ameer Ibrahim has questioned how South Sydney halfback Adam Reynolds was allowed to return in Sunday's match at ANZ Stadium and called for independent doctors to rule on concussions.
Reynolds was taken off by Rabbitohs trainer Eddie Farah in the 18th minute after stumbling several times following a mistimed tackle on Roosters second-rower Aiden Guera but passed a SCAT 3 concussion test in the dressing room and returned to lay on the match-winning try for winger Joel Reddy 12 minutes before full-time.
But Ibrahim, who was working on the sideline and watched a replay of the incident on monitors provided to help medical staff assess the cause of injuries, said there was no doubt in his opinion that Reynolds had suffered a concussion and he contacted the NRL's new chief medical officer Paul Bloomfield on Monday to raise his concerns.
Advertisement
"I said to Dr Bloomfield that I have to face my football department and there is no doubt that they are going to ask me about that," Ibrahim said. "What if it was Mitchell Pearce and he gets the same injury? It promoted debate on the sideline and I was having a frank discussion with my physio, saying 'what are we going to do now if that happens to us?' I can only go on what everyone else is going on and if I was to pull someone off and keep them off then the coach rightly has an argument to say 'well, South Sydney did this ... It makes you wonder if we hadn't scored three tries in that 11 minutes and 22 seconds [that Reynolds was off] whether he would have stayed off."
The NRL has asked Souths to provide details of the process used to clear Reynolds to return to the field, but Ibrahim said the concussion policy introduced last season was flawed. "You could be unconscious on the field, come inside and pass a test and go back on the field," he said. "Non-medical people would see that and wonder what went on but the rule states that if you pass a test you can go back on. I watched the review on the sideline, which is what [the monitor] is there for, just for my own interest and sure enough he took a blow to head with the knee and then he stumbled all over the place, sideways and looks very groggy when he came off.
"There are certain criteria for concussion and one of them is what we call ataxia, which is stumbling all over the place, so by definition that is a concussion and even if he passes a test he shouldn't come back on. That five seconds of that bloke stumbling all over the place, that's a concussion, but sadly unless someone is knocked out on the field no one is going to replace him. You can always argue you passed the test and go back out again. This is where I think we need an independent doctor, I really do. That sort of arguement would be taken away by an independent doctor."
Under the NRL's concussion guidlelines, any player who displays symptoms of a concussion must be removed from the field for an assesment by the team doctor. But Ibrahim said he had ruled players out without submitting them to a SCAT 3 test.
"You give someone five minutes to relax, have a drink, gather their thoughts, clear their brain and then you do the test. The test is a whole heap of balance-type testing, it is short-term memory, asking things that happened in the previous week as well as the months backwards and that sort of thing.
"For me, the first thing I go to is the balance test. If you are struggling to balance with your eyes closed and you are falling over then there is no use doing the rest of it, you are gone. I had an under-20s player on Sunday who didn't go back on because he failed the balance test. He didn't do the rest.
"The policy is that you could pull someone off who has got a wobbly boot, for want of a better term, and that is enough to say you are concussed and you are not going back on. Whether you pass or fail that test it doesn't matter."
