injuryupdate
21-07-2004, 11:38 AM
NSW Centre Mark Gasnier became the second Blues player this series to finish a winning Origin match with a serious injury, when it was discovered the morning after the game (on a CT scan) that he had a hairline fracture of the clavicle. Because this injury was undisplaced and not visible on the regular X-ray, it is not as serious as a regular clavicle fracture, but it will still keep him out 2-4 weeks. Gasnier was playing with mild concussion and a subsequent migraine, and played for roughly 20 minutes with the collarbone injury, that occurred in a different incident to the one where he was concussed. In game 1 of the series, halfback Craig Gower finished the match with a grade 3 knee medial ligament injury, and limped around for at least the last 20 minutes of the game as well. Neither of these players appear to have worsened their injuries from staying on the field, but it does highlight a feature of the NRL limited interchange rule. Players are reluctant to leave the field with an injury in NRL games because of the cost to the team. Read a further paper on this issue. There have not been any incidents where a player is alleged to have suffered a severe complication from staying on the field in an NRL game in the 4 seasons since this rule was introduced. If a player has a terribly debilitating injury, he will still obviously be taken from the field straight away, as was the case with Queensland's Matt Sing in Origin 3, who suffered a badly fractured jaw that required surgery the following day.