NRL 2023: Ricky Stuart, Wayne Bennett slam independent concussion doctor review after HIA drama

Ricky Stuart has joined a chorus of NRL coaches to slam the NRL’s independent doctors, after a Raiders star was sent for a head injury assessment despite a leg complaint.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 14: Coach Wayne Bennett gives directions to the players during a Dolphins NRL training session at Kayo Stadium on February 14, 2023 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

The NRL’s independent doctors have come under fire from a chorus of coaches after round one was overshadowed by a host of players being forced from the field temporarily.

Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo was left “confused” after winger Jacob Kiraz was told to leave the field only to be cleared to return at half-time while veteran coaches Wayne Bennett and Ricky Stuart want the system scrapped immediately.

The likes of Kiraz, Kalyn Ponga, Kotoni Staggs and Sebastian Kris were told to leave the field by an independent medico only for the four players to be cleared to return.

It comes as the NRL will review the independent doctor’s decision to remove Ponga with Newcastle trailing by two on Friday night.

A frustrated Stuart took aim at the NRL and the RLPA after Kris was sent for a head injury assessment despite a leg complaint.

Ricky Stuart has slammed the RLPA and NRL over the independent doctor, accusing them of not trusting coaches. Picture: Getty Images.

“The RLPA, the NRL, they don’t trust coaches,” Stuart said following his side’s one point loss to North Queensland. “Do you think I’d let a player play if he had a concussion or is concussed?

“I don’t just trust the players comments when it comes to the sideline but when he’s down getting his leg attended to and I ask him and there’s no fatigue and no pain in his eyes when he come off. He was very coherent.

“But the RLPA, they don’t trust coaches. All they want to do is come and talk to me about how much more time off the players are going to get and how much more money.

“I didn’t hear anybody from the RLPA come out and try to go to the NRL in regards to playing up here at 430 in the afternoon. We’re very lucky it wasn’t the humidity it was yesterday because I think it could have been dangerous for the players’ welfare.”

Stuart backed Bennett’s call to immediately axe the independent doctor.

Bennett told the NRL to make the clubs more accountable.

“We don’t need a doctor in a box,” Bennett said. “Get the guy out of the box, because that’s why the NRL put him in there, to be trusted enough to make the right decision.

“I can understand why (it was introduced) but I don’t see the need for it in the first place.”

Kalyn Ponga was not happy after being pulled from the field by the NRL’s independent doctor. Picture: Getty Images.

News Corp has learnt an independent doctor was flown to Wellington and reviewed the footage from a truck outside the venue at Sky Stadium. It is the NRL’s protocol to send a medical officer to venues which are not generally used. Otherwise the doctors sit and review from the NRL’s bunker headquarters in Eveleigh.

The doctors are trained to look for signs of concussions instead of concussion symptoms.

The NRL – led by chief medical officer Sharron Flahive – will review the independent doctor’s handling of Ponga’s removal from the field on Monday. The review process will determine if the doctor overcalled the situation or in other cases under-called a head knock.

Ciraldo said Kiraz was “clearly fine” despite being removed from the game momentarily during Canterbury’s loss to Manly.

NRL head of football Graham Annesley said the game stood behind its cautious approach.

“We are not backing away or apologising for taking a safety first approach to player safety,” he told ABC Sport.

BENNETT PICKS A FIGHT WITH NRL OVER CONCUSSION RULES

—Peter Badel

Wayne Bennett has blasted the NRL’s independent doctor system and called for it to be scrapped in the wake of the Kalyn Ponga head-knock controversy on Friday night.

Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien was left seething after his star playmaker Ponga was hauled off the field by the independent doctor as the Knights trailed the Warriors 14-12 with 11 minutes to play.

Ponga collided with Warriors prop Addin Fonua-Blake but was clearly surprised when referee Chris Sutton gave him his marching orders at the behest of the NRL’s remote independent-doctor process.

Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett wants the NRL doctor out of the box. Picture: Getty Images

Ponga argued he was not suffering any concussion and he found an ally in the code’s most senior coach Bennett, who urged ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys to axe the independent doctor and put faith in NRL club medicos.

“We don’t need a doctor in a box,” Bennett said ahead of his Dolphins side’s NRL premiership debut against the Roosters on Sunday.

“The solution is make the clubs more accountable, that’s what I’m saying.

“Get the guy out of the box, because that’s why the NRL put him in there, to be trusted enough to make the right decision.

“We realised that last year (the system had flaws) but nothing changed with it.

“The game has never been more conscious about game injuries and we do a lot of things right, but all they (the NRL) have done is taken the onus off the clubs and put it on somebody independent.

“I can understand why (the NRL introduced an independent doctor), but I don’t see the need for it in the first place.

Kalyn Ponga was pulled from the field in the final minutes of the game. Picture: NRL Photos

“Instead of taking the soft options and pandering to clubs who do the wrong thing … the clubs have to own it.

“When they (the NRL) had a few moments in the last few years (to crack down on club doctors not cracking down on concussions), they didn’t punish the clubs enough.”

O’Brien explained the independent doctor ruled the knock a Category Two blow, meaning Ponga wasn’t allowed to be checked on the field and had to be replaced.

“It ruled him out of the game,” O’Brien said.

“We’ve worked really hard, he has to get himself back in the game and now we are jumping at shadows to get him out of the game, I don’t get it.”

Bennett said NRL clubs have fully embraced the code’s crackdown on head-trauma injuries and is confident they would not endanger a player if the independent doctor was scrapped.

“If the NRL makes the clubs more accountable, you don’t need an independent doctor,” he said.

“What I’m saying is if they do get it wrong, then the game makes hard decisions on the club and then you will get rid of it pretty quickly.

“It’s like rules. When they brought the contact with the head (rule in) and actually enforced it, it changed the game enormously.

“If they make the rules pretty stringent for the doctors and trainers that are working at the club, and the coaches, that will shake the place up.

“We don’t need someone (independent) sitting in a box.

“I know we are serious about it (head knocks).

“There’s no condemnation from me on the game in our attitude to head injuries, but when you are consistent with it, the clubs will clean their act up totally … and I don’t think there’s many clubs playing outside the guidelines.

“We understand the ramifications of the head injuries now and we are committed to protecting the player.

“The game should come down hard on the club, so the rest of us that are doing the right thing aren’t being penalised.”

Originally published as NRL 2023: Ricky Stuart, Wayne Bennett slam independent concussion doctor review after HIA drama