NRL concussion rule is slammed AGAIN as Newcastle’s Kurt Mann is forced from the field after copping a blow to the testicles – NOT his head
- Kurt Mann was kicked in his nether region but had to undergo an HIA
- Newcastle utility player told ABC the bunker ‘looked at the wrong head’
- NRL introduced independent doctors to rule on possible concussions this year
- But the doctors sit in the bunker instead than being on the field of play
- Cooper Cronk told Fox Footy the NRL must bring doctors closer to the action
The NRL concussion rule was again at the centre of a storm on Saturday, when Newcastle’s Kurt Mann was forced off the field despite being hit in his nether region rather than his head.
As part of regulations introduced this season, the NRL is using independent doctors to rule whether players must be taken off the field following collisions that may have caused a concussion.
In a bizarre incident, Mann was ordered to undergo a head injury assessment after appearing to have been kicked in his testicles.
Kurt Mann (right) was ordered off the field for a HIA in a bizarre incident on Saturday
‘They were looking at the wrong head. I got kicked in the balls,’ the Knights utility told ABC after his team lost 38-20 against Penrith.
The decision was the latest entry in a growing list of questionable calls the bunker has made in the first three rounds of the NRL season, a trend which Cooper Cronk said could not continue.
‘This has happened two or three times,’ the former Queensland halfback said on Fox League on Saturday afternoon.
The Newcastle utility player was kicked in the nether region while making a tackle
But the independent doctors in the bunker ruled he had been involved in a head collision
‘There is a new rule tweak for the NRL. Kurt Mann has been hit in a spot that no-one wants to be hit. We want to get accurate decisions in our game.
‘When there is a physical assessment needed to determine if it is a HIA or not, the person making that decision is in a bunker watching it off the screen.’
Crucially, the independent doctors the NRL has introduced as part of its rule tweaks this season are sitting in the bunker alongside the video referee and are not on the field.
Former Maroons star Cooper Cronk wants the NRL to have independent doctors on the field
Cronk joined the likes of former New South Wales captain Paul Gallen in urging the league to bring the doctors on the field instead.
‘He [Mann] has been hit somewhere you don’t want to be hit, but he has not had a HIA,’ he said.
‘We’ve heard Jake Duke say there was never a concussion incident at all. Yet, he has been removed by someone sitting in a bunker. That is a bad call.
‘Simple solution. Bring them onto the field.’