Did these players really need HIAs? The NRL is watching

The NRL issued two clubs with “please explain” notices last weekend asking them to clarify details of players who had left the field for head injury assessments.

Let’s start with Saturday evening and James Fisher-Harris, the New Zealand Warriors prop widely regarded as one of the most intimidating players in the NRL. Even his tattoo of a panther, to commemorate his four premierships with Penrith, is considered scarier than any of his former teammates’ ink.

Fisher-Harris went to make a tackle on Kurt Donoghoe, the Dolphins forward who has left plenty of journalists questioning their own concussion status when trying to remember how to spell his surname on deadline.

Donoghoe caught the ball near the tryline and appeared to clash with Fisher-Harris, who then went down, watched where the ball finished up ... then stayed down.

A minute later, referee Adam Gee signalled time off because somebody, somewhere, had asked for Fisher-Harris to come from the field for a concussion test. He passed.

It was not the first time Fisher-Harris had come from the field in the first half of a game this year.

In round two, on a soggy night in Canberra, referee Peter Gough received the message “from the trainer or doctor” that Fisher-Harris, looking pretty gassed midway through the opening stanza, needed to come from the field for a head check.

Ditto in round 12, when an exhausted Fisher-Harris lay on the ground after trying to tackle the much smaller St George Illawarra hooker Damien Cook.

So the NRL wrote to the Warriors during the week, firstly to check if everything was OK with “Fish”, then to ask what signs he had displayed to warrant an HIA.

As long as the on-field trainer and Warriors’ chief medical officer were satisfied with what transpired, the NRL were happy to take their word. At the end of the day, who is the NRL to question club medical staff?

On Sunday afternoon, at a half-empty CommBank Stadium, Penrith’s Mitch Kenny copped an accidental slap to the back of the head from the trailing arm of Roosters centre Billy Smith. Kenny clutched at the back of his head, Smith was penalised, and Kenny later came from the field for a HIA.

In his defence, Kenny told the trainers he was feeling dizzy and had a ringing sound in his ears. Like Fisher-Harris, he returned looking fresh for his next stint.

Phil Gould maintained on the Nine commentary “it was a completely unfair penalty” against the Roosters.

When a player is forced off the field to undergo a HIA, it essentially gives teams a free interchange. And fresh legs, especially in the middle of a half, is always a bonus.