England coach Wayne Bennett confident on Kevin Brown's fitness
Sunday 19 November 2017 12:03, UK
England coach Wayne Bennett has revealed he withdrew stand-off Kevin Brown from the World Cup quarter-final after discovering on social media that he had been concussed.
The veteran Warrington playmaker took two heavy blows to the head while carrying the ball into the Papua New Guinea defence 25 minutes into the match at Melbourne's Rectangular Stadium but played on after convincing medical staff that he was fit to continue.
However, Bennett said he was forced to bring Brown off at half-time after one of the non-playing members of his squad showed him a video of the incident towards the end of the first half.
Against his wishes, Brown was withdrawn from the action in the second half, with Josh Hodgson switching from hooker to help guide England to a 36-6 win that sets up a semi-final showdown with Tonga in Auckland next Saturday.
"The doctor who went on the field didn't see the incident because there was no replay board," Bennett said. "It wasn't working.
"Kevin assured him he was fine. He had no major symptoms that suggested he'd been knocked out.
"Nearing half-time, one of our players who was not playing was on social media and up came a replay of the incident. He brought it in and showed the doctor and the doctor realised that it was a category one.
"Kevin was quite coherent in the changing room at half-time and the last thing he wanted to do was come off but when you saw the replay you could see he was knocked out, it looked bad enough."
Bennett said he was unaware of Brown's history of head knocks in Super League and is confident he will be fit to face Tonga.
"I don't think he'll be doubtful," he said. "It will be up to the league. He's got to go through a whole load of procedures now, concussion tests and, if he passes them, he'll be fine.
"I don't know his history. I just know today he was totally coherent in the changing room and totally adamant that he was going back on.
"His head was clear, he knew where he was and what was going on. But, once the doctor said it was category one and he didn't want him to go back on the field, I told Kevin he wasn't going back."
