‘If not now, when?’: Leading concussion doctor urges Victor Radley to retire

How many head knocks is too many? For Roosters enforcer Victor Radley, it’s no longer a hypothetical question.

After copping yet another concussion in Saturday’s loss to the Newcastle Knights – his second documented head injury this season and at least his seventh in the past four years – calls are growing louder for the England international to consider hanging up the boots.

Among them is Dr. Adrian Cohen, one of Australia’s leading concussion experts, who says it may be time for Radley to think seriously about life after football.

“If he was my patient, I would be urging him to think about giving it away because of the long-term effects of concussion – or at the very least taking an extended break,” Cohen said.

In Radley’s case, Cohen argues, is emblematic of a broader issue plaguing contact sports: we still don’t really know how many head knocks is too many.

“How many are too many? How many per season, per year or per career? The simple answer is: no one actually knows,” Cohen said.

There is no one size fits all when it comes to concussions – everyone one of us is different.

“If he was my patient,” added Cohen, “I would be urging him to think about giving it away because of the long-term effects of concussion – or at the very least taking an extended break.”

‘There’s no science, just common sense’

Radley’s latest concussion came midway through the first half against the Knights, when he collided with a teammate’s shoulder during a defensive set.

He failed the NRL’s Head Injury Assessment (HIA) and was ruled out for the rest of the match.

The Roosters confirmed on Tuesday that Radley “has commenced standard concussion rehabilitation protocol and will see an independent specialist later in the week.”

This means that Radley will enter the NRL’s concussion protocols which includes an 11 day stand down.

But for Cohen, who developed Headsafe, a device offering rapid and objective concussion assessments, the number of officially recorded concussions doesn’t always paint the full picture.

“I’d be amazed if it was only seven times in the last four years,” he said.

“What we should say is: four recognised, documented, admitted concussions.”

And he’s hunch is not wrong. Radley has been tested five times for HIA this season, and only failing two.

It also doesn’t include, for example, incidents that occur during contact sessions at training.

Part of the issue, Cohen explained, lies in the culture and systems around injury reporting.

“Everyone knows players don’t volunteer symptoms because they don’t want to come off during a game – and certainly not in training,” he said.

“Clearly too, the ‘spotters’ are severely compromised and conflicted, tending to underreport.”

The tipping point

For Victor “The Inflictor” Radley, the tipping point may not come as a single moment or diagnosis – it just comes down to instinct. According to Cohen, there is no magic number, no secret threshold. It’s about knowing when the time is right.

“If not now, when?” Cohen asked.

He points to former Roosters teammates Boyd Cordner and Jake Friend, who both retired early due to ongoing concussion concerns.

At the end of the day their decisions, while extremely tough, were driven by a sense of long-term wellbeing – your quality of life after footy.

“There’s no science to tell us,” Cohen added. “Anecdotes are just that. And every one of us is different. But what we do know is that every impact is doing you damage.”

“The more you have, the more you get. The easier you get them, the more you suffer – and the longer it takes to recover.”

“So in the absence of science, we should fall back on another commodity sadly in short supply when discussing concussion: common sense.”

More than a game

While Roosters fans will hope to see Radley back in the Tricolours, Cohen’s message is clear: there’s more to life than football.

“There’s no simple test to tell you when to walk away,” he said. “You just have to know. But sometimes, the hardest part is admitting that time has come.”

If the tragic loss of Queensland great Paul Green and his battle with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) taught us anything, it’s this: there’s far more to life than football.

SEE FURTHER: Radley’s ‘bad taste’ Instagram post sparks outrage over concussions and binge drinking