With the news that Andrew Heffernan, has been released, by those who shall not be named, so that he can return to Oz to continue his recovery from concussion, should FC as a club be concerned about Albert Kelly? He’s taken at least 3 wallops that I can remember. I’m sure the club are doing everything necessary but it must be a major concern.

A more fundamental issue is that the medical profession is becoming more reluctant to give players the green light to continue playing, for fear of being sued in the future.

And the insurance companies will be keeping a keen eye on what advice players get.

There's also been more research on scrumcaps and helmets which show they can actually make matters worse as players get over confident and the brain can 'hit' the inside of the cap more. Some think the NFL will phase out helmets and pads over the years for this reason.

Kelly seemed to get a lot of head knocks this year - does he need to wear a scrum cap i wonder or is the game just getting way too soft? I know player wellfair is paramount but every game seems to have at least one these days sometimes more and its very often the playmakers who seem to be getting clattered - This was never the case even just a few years ago and is turning me off rugby league rapidly. I can only see it getting worse too

The use of head guards is already banned at Castleford Tigers from under 19s upwards. You need a good reason to get dispensation. Protecting a hair transplant was a good one I thought.

On the contrary playmakers have always taken punishment. It was certainly the case in the pre video days when really late hits often went unpunished as the ref was following play. Indeed there were players who were (in)famous for their cheap foul play, there could be a whole thread devoted to them. Couple that with the rudimentary medical treatment of a cold sponge and smelling salts and its a miracle that we didn't see more tragedies.

On to the present day its always a worry when players get serial concussions. The treatment and care is thankfully much better but as the Heffernan case shows, even with all the precautions in place sheer bad luck is going to shorten some careers. I'm not sure much more can be done, there are always going to be accidental concussions even if foul play is wiped out entirely. It's the price you pay for a contact sport.

He also gets hit off the ball too much for my liking.
The RFL should clamp down on players deliberately hitting a player after he has kicked the ball.Make it a yellow card offence.
I hope Kelly does get the all clear.He certainly puts his body on the line for the club

It's a real worry in the game IMO. kelly took a head knock at cas in round 3 and his season was pretty much gone after that . I hope he comes back as good as he was but you have to question whether he can.

Agreed JTP, the one at Cas was a real bad one and as I said on another thread a couple of weeks ago Kelly hasn't been the same since.