I know my own body
Greenwood says he defied trainer’s order to leave the field
GOLD Coast forward Joe Greenwood admits he refused directions from a Titans trainer to leave the field on Friday night as the club face a $150,000 fine for breaching concussion protocols.
The NRL yesterday issued a breach notice to the Titans for their alleged mishandling of head injuries to Greenwood, Kane Elgey and Ryan Simpkins during their win over Parramatta.
St George Illawarra and Newcastle were also issued $100,000 fines relating to Round 3 incidents involving Josh Dugan and Brendan Elliot, respectively.
Greenwood said post-game he had not wanted to come off as the already-depleted Titans were dealt more injuries and knocks at Cbus Super Stadium.
“I wanted to stay on,” the Englishman said. “It’s what we do as a job. “You want to do everything you can for the team and I know my own body.
“The trainer wants me to come off but I won’t.”
Five-eighth Kane Elgey looked in trouble after a tackle attempt on Eels centre Brad Takairangi but did not leave the field.
Elgey told the Bulletin it had been a knock to his jaw, not concussion-related.
Utility Simpkins staggered from the field just after halftime for a concussion test but returned later in the contest.
Simpkins said afterwards he could not remember much about the collision but quickly felt in an acceptable condition to continue playing.
“I felt fine to go back on. I passed all the tests …,” he said.
The Titans released a short statement saying they had been made aware of the breach notice but would await official details and further assessment of the incidents before making a decision on the penalty.
NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said the punishments were an indication of how serious the game is taking head injuries.
“These are, by far, the heaviest fines ever proposed by the game for concussion breaches,” he said. “That is how seriously we take it.
“The clubs involved have the opportunity to respond to the breach notices, and we will consider those responses, but our message is clear … we are not going to allow player safety to be put at risk through breaches of the concussion rules.
“In the majority of cases we see strong compliance with the league’s concussion rules but it appears that this did not happen at the weekend in some matches and we cannot stand by and allow player safety to be put at risk.
“Where we believe the rules have been breached we will take action – and we would hope that these breach notices will serve as a warning to all clubs.”