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James Tedesco was taken from the field with a head knock in the first half of the Roosters’ clash with Parramatta following a shocking high shoulder from Eels winger Bailey Simonsson.
Amazingly, Simonsson was only binned for the hit, while Tedesco missed the rest of the game and will now be subject to the NRL’s new 11-day stand down policy, meaning he will miss next week’s crunch trip to Melbourne.
It was high, late and direct to the face, leaving pundits, commentators and fans stunned that a send off did not follow. The match review panel will likely think otherwise, with a hefty suspension expected.
Trent Robinson questioned the law on high tackles, especially given the crackdown seen in rugby league over the last 18 months and in rugby union for a longer period.
“I don’t want to talk about that incident in particular because I know Simonsson didn’t go in, he didn’t leave the ground or anything like that,” said the coach. “But Ted’s now out for two weeks and there was high contact.
“It was disappointing to lose Teddy so early and the contact – I don’t know. I was expecting a send off.
“I was ropeable at the time that it wasn’t a send off. And then I looked it after the game and I was a bit more 50/50 about what I thought when I took some time to have a look at it. I guess that’s where it ended up.
“Based on where we’re at at the moment, they’ll need to let us know whether that was ten minutes or send off. Where we need to get to, I don’t know. I’ll sit on the fence on this one.
“They’re going to try and stop him from passing. I don’t like him getting hit high and it’s a vulnerable place for the fullback to come at the end of the line. They have to make sure that they get it right.”
On the mandatory 11-day stand down, he added that he immediately thought of his captain’s health, and that he will now miss a crucial match next week against the Storm.
“That’s a really tough one,” asaid the coach. “It’s the first time that I’ve had it now – I knew ten minutes into the game that I’ve lost him for two weeks. That wasn’t a great feeling. The first thing that I wanted to make sure of was that he was OK. He looked pretty good in there but we’ll have to see after tonight and tomorrow.”
Parramatta coach Brad Arthur admitted that he did not see the contact, but given the injury, it was likely there.
“I don’t know, because I didn’t see any head contact, but I’m not going to say that’s what has happened because I’d need to see it closely,” he said. “Obviously there was something wrong with James. I didn’t see any head contact but obviously there was.”
On the TV, the pundits were more equivocal.
“I really like Bailey,” said Mick Ennis on Fox League. “I have coached Bailey at Parramatta and at Canberra and there is just no dirtiness in Bailey at all.
“But he came in and landed with his shoulder and hit James Tedesco in the head and I thought he was lucky not to be sent off to be honest.
“I don’t think there was malice in it, but it was direct contact to the head and with what we have seen, it is something we are trying to stamp out of the game.
“Obviously he went off for the sin bin and Tedesco won’t return, but I thought Simonsson was lucky to stay on the field.”
Tedesco has a history of concussions, with this incident his eighth in the NRL. That record will likely stop the Roosters from petitioning to have his stand down period wiped. He has also suffered delayed onset symptoms before, and the Roosters are known to be a very cautious club with head knocks.
Two weeks ago the NRL’s CEO Andrew Abdo had to defend the competition agaainst suggestions it had gone soft for joining rugby union and AFL in having mandatory standown periods.
“You have to do what’s right,” Abdo said.
“Everyone is really united on the concept of doing what we can to create a safe environment, everyone can have their views and express their views freely,” Abdo said on NRL360 on Wednesday night.
“But the clubs have been supportive, we’ve provided this information to them this afternoon, I think everyone is rallying in the same direction.
“That’s the great thing about rugby league, everyone has an opinion… we are going to do what we think is right.
“I’ll say this, leadership isn’t always about making popular decisions, or making decisions for one particular constituent.
“You have to respect everyone’s views because they have a valid view based on their lens, but our lens, when we look at things, is not through one lens, a player or a fans lens.
“You have to do what’s right for the game and what I’ll say to you is this, the fans are voting with their feet, I say this to anyone who says the game has gone soft, ‘have you been to a rugby league game?’.
“It’s anything but soft, it’s fast and it is extremely entertaining, at times we saw some amazing legal tackles in the first two rounds.”
The AFL is in the middle of a class action involving more than 60 former players in the Supreme Court of Victoria over the long term effects of concussion. World Rugby is likewise being sued.
Phil Gould is among those who has taken issue with the NRL’s new guildeines, describing them as “overkill”.
“I’ve talked [about] this concussion hysteria and where the game is headed and why it’s headed that way and who they’ve given weight to: media and doctors and lawyers. All this misinformation…” Gould said on Channel 9’s 100% Footy earlier this month..
“I think the doctor in the Bunker is the greatest abomination perpetrated on our game in history. It’s confusing for players. Not every bump to the head is a concussion, not every concussion is life-threatening. It’s just total overkill.
“I don’t know how the players and the coaches are going to contend with this. I understand player welfare. So do clubs, so do coaches, so does everybody, so do doctors.
“Unfortunately the club doctors are put in a position where they want the independent doctor because they don’t want to have to make the decision themselves. It’s just too difficult.
“It’s not going to change, the game will not back away from this, they will keep doing it and it’s going to create more and more problems.
“Not every slap to the face or bump in the head requires a HIA review.
“It just would appear that old mate up in the Bunker has decided whenever someone gets a bump to the head they’ve got to go off and get checked for 15 minutes, which I find totally ludicrous.
“It’s like arguing with people on climate change. It’s the same thing. They keep throwing up the same rubbish. How far down this rabbit hole do you want to go? As they say, don’t argue with idiots.”
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