Fans should not jump to conclusions that Ryan Crotty should retire after he was knocked out during the opening Bledisloe Test, says 1 NEWS sports reporter Guy Heveldt.
Crotty suffered his sixth concussion in two years after he was knocked out when he collided with teammate Jack Goodhue during the Test in Sydney.
Despite his troubling history with concussions, Heveldt says we should avoid jumping to the conclusion that he should retire.
“The thing is, and I personally did this as well, as soon as it happened, you kind of jump to the, ‘oh maybe he should start looking at retirement’ and that’s the big question,” he said.
Crotty and other All Blacks are taking precautions to make sure head knocks don’t ruin their careers and lives.
Heveldt spoke with Crotty in June after he suffered his fifth concussion against the Blues, with the midfield star saying the recovery times differ with each injury.
“He said, ‘look, they’re all quite different’ and that’s the big thing here, they’re all different in the sense that that one there might have looked quite bad, but he says he’s actually recovered and he he’s been cleared by specialist as Steve Hansen said yesterday.”
“The one against the Blues was quite innocuous but it actually took a long time to recover.”
Dr Bennet Omalu is repeating his calls for a global ban on contact sports.
Dr Omalu says parents need to ask themselves whether they love rugby more than their kids.
Watch the Breakfast interview with concussion expert Bennet Omalu from earlier this year.
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