Risk Of Brain Injury Not Worth It - Hodgson
Sun Herald
Sunday March 30, 2008
WESTS TIGERS captain Brett Hodgson remains concerned about his mental health and will not hesitate to rule himself out of today's clash with the Bulldogs if he experiences even the slightest headache.
"It's just not worth it," Hodgson told The Sun-Herald. "I've got two kids. I don't want to end up brain dead. "You have to put an emphasis on your own decision-making and be a bit sensible about it." Hodgson, who was concussed last Saturday night against the Cowboys, can see merit in introducing a mandatory rule forcing players onto the sidelines after being knocked out. "If the NRL brought in a strict rule that it was an automatic week off, or however long, I wouldn't see that to be a bad thing, to be honest," he said. "I wouldn't be against it."Whether or not I'm OK to play - I'm a bit fortunate this week that we've had an eight-day turnaround between games. If it had've been a five- or six-day turnaround, there's no way I would have played." NRL players at all clubs undergo a pre-season cognitive test, such as a Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) test, repeating the evaluation after a head trauma to determine if they've regained the sensibilities. Hodgson's results were better during the week in a Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) measure - an additional cognitive test - than during the pre-season. "I basically didn't do anything at all until Wednesday," Hodgson said. "I spent about 15 minutes on the bike, then had to go and see the doctor for a verbal examination. "He gave me, say, three four-digit numbers that I had to say backwards. If it was 1-2-3-4, I had to say 4-3-2-1. That went up to five or six numbers, saying them backwards. There were a couple of other little things - I had to recite the months from December backwards to see if my brain was still ticking over, I guess."He was concussed by a shoulder charge from Cowboys centre Ashley Graham and later claimed the controversial tackling technique should be outlawed. Standing at 175cm tall and weighing just 76 kilograms, the 12-year veteran is one of the smallest but most resilient players in the NRL.
© 2008 Sun Herald