Sydney Roosters star Luke Keary is backing NRL’s independent doctors amid concerns over Victory Radley’s concussion

“The club doctor at a game has a million things to do, right. And then you have to trust that someone can spot the knock on the floor.

“You saw it in Origin, the coaches run around, they don’t watch every tackle to see if someone has a hit on the head. They try to do other jobs.

“The way the NRL got someone there is not associated with any club. Your job is to take care of the well-being of the player. They’re not there saying, “Let’s just undress him, just in case.” That’s not their job.

“You better play it safe anyway. And as players, we might not be able to see it right now. We just want to play.

“But later we will be grateful to them. Anyone who argues against it, I don’t see how.”

Keary has long been a proponent of limiting contact training during the preseason. The NRL is now requiring that all contact sessions be videotaped and that “spotters” be used for head injuries while the governing body collects data on possible concussions.

The information will be presented to the ARL commission later this year to see what restrictions, if any, on full-contact training as seen in the NFL could be implemented.

Keary wore a hat for the first time in under 13 years in Sunday’s “terrible” loss to the Dolphins and admitted there was no conclusive evidence it reduced incidences of concussion.

Instead, the veteran Five-Eighth has been wearing it to wrestling and contact drills all summer and just feels comfortable in it.

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The Roosters are hoping Joey Manu will return from a fractured face alongside Brandon Smith (ribs) against the Warriors on Saturday, although there is still uncertainty over veteran Jared Waerea-Hargreaves’ handling of a back problem.

Radley will be on the sidelines at least this week alongside Angus Crichton (personal leave) and Matt Lodge (depressed facial fracture).

Radley visibly staggered after a tackle against Jarrod Wallace went awry on Sunday, his third serious concussion in a year after distressing scenes that saw him cramp on the ground after a failed tackle against Melbourne last August.

“[Radley] is in here and he seems cute, he arrived fine the next day,” Keary said.

“You don’t want to see that. He had a bad one last year so I wouldn’t be surprised if they took him 10 or 14 days off.”

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