Victor Radley in concussion rule drama as Newcastle Knights shock Roosters by running up big lead

Roosters firebrand Victor Radley has fallen foul of the NRL‘s new concussion rule during Saturday’s game against Newcastle after smashing headfirst into Jake Clifford in a spectacular hit – and the code’s bosses won’t be impressed.

This year the NRL has appointed independent medical doctors to rule on whether players need to come from the field due to head injuries, with the medicos sitting in the bunker along with the video ref.

Radley was ruled out for the rest of the match after his hit went wrong just after the 20-minute mark – but it took the doctor almost five minutes to make the decision, even though there was a perfect opportunity to take the Tricolours lock from the field during a scrum soon after he was injured.

Roosters lock Victor Radley (left) got his head in the wrong spot when he flew in Newcastle’s Jake Clifford (right) at the SCG and was clearly hurt afterwards

In a worrying sign for the NRL, the independent doctor who has been charged with making calls on head injuries for the 2022 season around five minutes to rule that Radley had to come from the field 

To add insult to injury, Radley was placed on report for a crusher tackle before he got hooked, even though the hit was so unremarkable Fox Sports commentators Andrew Voss and Steve Roach were stunned when the referee made the call.

Since the aim of the independent doctor is to protect players from further injury, the NRL should be taking a good, hard look at why it took so long to get Radley taken from the field.

Had he copped another hard knock, the consequences could have been serious.

The loss of Radley added to a shocking start for the boys from Bondi, who went into halftime down 10-2 despite being heavily favoured to beat the Knights.

Radley is treated by a Roosters trainer just after the tackle on Clifford. He went on to make more hits before being benched for the rest of the game – including one that saw him placed on report for a crusher tackle

Newcastle regularly broke their defensive line with a mix of great offloading and hard ball-running, with Bradman Best producing a fierce fend and sublime flick pass to put Enari Tuala over for the side’s second try.

Their first four-pointer came courtesy of a monster bomb from Clifford, which James Tedesco allowed to bounce. 

The ball came off the ground like a leg break and the Knights pivot forced it out of Tedesco’s grasp after steaming downfield in a great kick chase before Dane Gagai went over the stripe.

The Roosters defence is usually a steel trap but they were falling off tackles regularly, with the Knights notching four line breaks and 24 tackle busts in the first 40.

Errors were also a huge problem for Trent Robinson’s men, with Clifford streaking away for the Knights’ third try after a shocking pass from Jared Waerea-Hargreaves in the 56th minute.