Why Leeds Rhinos’ Aidan Sezer’s Grand Final hopes are still up in the air

Despite finishing 5th in the league, Leeds are just 80 minutes away from being crowned Super League Champions in 2022.

That comes because of a herculean effort in last night’s semi-final against Wigan Warriors bolstered by a Man of Steel nominee and the league’s top try scorer. Despite that, the Warriors couldn’t break Leeds in the first half as they heaped the pressure on the Rhinos line scoring just once and only taking a 4-2 lead into halftime.

Then at the start of the second half Leeds hit Wigan with a whirlwind scoring twice through Jarrod O’Connor and James Bentley taking a 14-4 lead. Then the big moment: John Bateman was sent off for a late hit on Aidan Sezer with Sezer going off not to return.

Sky Sports reported that he had failed his Head Injury Assessment (HIA) ruling him out of the Grand Final despite Leeds’ eventual 20-8 win. However, Rugby League Live then reported that he had passed his HIA meaning he could yet play.

However, the situation is more complicated than that as revealed by brilliant Twitter page NRL physio. The page suggest that the fact he couldn’t return to the field likely means he had what’s called a category 1 symptom which can include loss of consciousness, amnesia, inability to keep balance, vomiting, tonic posturing or fitting, visual field defects or other signs of a brain ischaemia.

Commonly used player/coach speak to indicate passing testing in the sheds, but HIA starts on field & still have to pass through protocols if Cat1 symptoms present.

Discourse would be very interesting if a Cleary type was ruled out of the #NRLGF in similar circumstances. pic.twitter.com/soKIrp28hd

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) September 17, 2022

The presence of any of these constitutes a diagnosis of concussion is established. This means the 11 day lay off could still be a factor for Sezer and therefore still potentially rule him out of the Grand Final.

Time will tell with Leeds likely to reveal all in the coming days.