South Sydney forward Jai Arrow could find himself in hot water with the NRL after admitting that he broke the rules by running out on a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) test during his side’s thrilling win over Penrith on Thursday night. While no charges were issued by the NRL Match Review Committee, the league is known for taking player safety extremely seriously and could investigate the incident further. The NRL has been working hard to crack down on head knocks and concussions, with a new 11-day exclusion period for players diagnosed with concussion and a slew of sin bins for high shots.
Arrow coined himself in after the game, confessing to commentator and NSW coach Brad Fittler that he had run out midway through the HIA test. Fittler joked with Arrow, asking how long he had been out. “Seventy-odd and then I copped a bit of a head knock at 18-10 down when they scored that last try,” Arrow replied. “I come in and heard cheering and then two of our fellas were cheering. So I ran out midway through the HIA and come out and it was 20-18.”
Fittler then asked Arrow whether he was allowed to do that and whether it was part of the SCAT5 test. The SCAT5 (Sport Concussion Assessment Tool) is a standardised tool used to evaluate and manage concussions in athletes, developed by the Concussion in Sport Group in 2017. The SCAT5 includes a range of tests that assess an athlete’s cognitive function, balance, and symptoms including a symptom evaluation, cognitive assessment, balance examination, and a coordination examination. Arrow had legged it midway through these assessments, stating that the doctor was “blowing up” at him, but that he didn’t care at the time.
“It was exciting and just lucky we grabbed the two points,” he said. Arrow, who is in his second game back from a hamstring injury, also spoke about his recent enforced break, stating that it had given him “fresh legs” and that he was trying to get back into the groove of playing week-in, week-out footy.
The NRL is likely to treat Arrow’s admission seriously, with chief executive Andrew Abdo stating that each concussion incident would be treated on a case-by-case basis. “There is no exact science that points to how long it takes a player to recover from a concussion,” he said. “It is all case-by-case and very individual. Our policy needs to take that into account. We don’t want players not reporting concussions for fear of a mild concussion ruling them out for a period that is longer than necessary.” The league also confirmed it would consider looking at technologies such as blood and saliva testing as a tool for diagnosing concussions in the future.
I find the whole situation very confusing both the Referee and the bunker said there was nothing illegal in the tackle but Payne Haas is cited by the match review committee. Is the referee and the Video Ref stood down for allowing the player to stay on the field. How can they make such a mistake and possible no repercussion. I find the whole situation confusing.
I adhere to the decision made by the officials on the dangerous tackles made which could of resulted in a more severe injury but was reluctant enough that the injure play was able to walk- it- off with smaller complications. But still it is an ongoing evaluation and game assessments as to how and where they draw the line on such tackles whether it is done intentionally to create bodily harm on a player or whether at the spur of the moment tackle with the awkward movement entering into the tackle trying to prevent the other player from his crossing the line to score. This is where the NRL games ruling committee should look very carefully on the fine lines of the tackles to conclude their submissions.