National Rugby League side Sydney Roosters doctor Ameer Ibrahim "questioned how South Sydney halfback Adam Reynolds was allowed to return in Sunday's match at ANZ Stadium and called for independent doctors to rule on concussions," according to Brad Walter of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Reynolds "was taken off by Rabbitohs trainer Eddie Farah in the 18th minute after stumbling several times following a mistimed tackle on Roosters second-rower Aiden Guera but passed a SCAT 3 concussion test in the dressing room and returned to lay on the match-winning try for winger Joel Reddy 12 minutes before full-time." But Ibrahim, who was working on the sideline and watched a replay of the incident on monitors provided to help medical staff assess the cause of injuries, said that "there was no doubt in his opinion that Reynolds had suffered a concussion and he contacted the NRL's new chief medical officer Paul Bloomfield on Monday to raise his concerns." The NRL "asked Souths to provide details of the process used to clear Reynolds to return to the field, but Ibrahim said the concussion policy introduced last season was flawed." He said, "You could be unconscious on the field, come inside and pass a test and go back on the field" (SMH, 3/16).
NEW TECH: In Sydney, Jennifer Foreshew wrote South Sydney is "expected to be among the first to trial new sports innovation technology later this year." The Rabbitohs are one of 15 NRL clubs "using global positioning system technology from Canberra-based GPSports." Of those 15 clubs, 14 "also use GPSports cloud-based analysis platform." South Sydney uses the technology to analyze the performance of the team "across fitness and rehabilitation programs." The club invested about A$100,000 in GPSports technology "in the past three years" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 3/17).