NSW advisor Greg Alexander conceded that Blues lock Isaah Yeo shouldn’t have stayed on the field following a blow to his head off the first tackle of the Origin series opener.
Yeo bounced off Queensland Maroons prop Josh Papalii and appeared to stumble as commentators immediately feared a concussion and expected the Panther to be taken off for an HIA.
Yeo bizarrely remained on the field and played a total of 53 minutes which Alexander admitted was a mistake.
“Isaah, despite staying on the field, was obviously affected and probably shouldn’t have stayed on for as long as he did,” Alexander said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“The trainer couldn’t get out to him immediately and I don’t know why it wasn’t called immediately from the independent doctor.
“It was called a category three which meant that once our trainer got out there, which was a minute or two later, all he needs to do was pass the HIA - and he did.
“The Isaah Yeo situation was a very confusing one.”
Following the game, Yeo said that he felt fine and slipped from the surface rather than stumbling due to a concussion.
He also stated that he didn’t feel any concussion symptoms and remembered the entire match.
NRL Physio Brien Seeney said that the prestige of State of Origin was the only reason that Yeo was not removed from the field.
“There was contact to the head,” Seeney said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“He went down, and he didn’t brace too much down. On the run back to the defensive line he did stumble.
“In most NRL games, when we see that, you usually see the game stopped.
“At the bare minimum, we should’ve seen the ref blow time.
“It doesn’t happen in Origin unfortunately.”
NSW will look to square up the series when Game II goes to Perth on June 26.