Footy’s back in 2023 and it’s taken less than a week for controversy to arise.

Concussion is at the centre of it with calls from multiple NRL coaches including Wayne Bennett and Ricky Stuart to put the onus on club doctors rather than an independent doctors.

However, Mark Levy, Darryl Brohman, Mark Riddell and Josh Morris have backed the need for an independent doctor to ensure player safety.

The independent doctor, who sits in the NRL bunker, has the power to remove a player from the field when if they’re showing signs of concussion.

Mark says if contact sports don’t do anything about concussion, “we’re not going to have a game in 10 years, in 20 years time”.

Manly Coach Anthony Seibold also weighed in on the debate and said he’d like to see an independent doctor at the game.

Image credit: Getty Images Hagen Hopkins/Stringer