Hull KR full-back Lachlan Coote has retired with immediate effect on medical advice following a series of concussions over the past two seasons.

Australia-born Coote won three consecutive Super League titles with St Helens between 2019 and 2021 before joining Rovers ahead of the 2022 campaign.

The 33-year-old’s professional career also included international recognition with Scotland and Great Britain, in addition to spells with Penrith Panthers and North Queensland Cowboys.

“After suffering another concussion at Magic round, my fifth concussion in less than two years, I knew I was going to be faced with some tough conversations,” he told Hull KR’s website.

“With all the support from my coach Willie Peters, Paul Lakin (Hull KR CEO), Neil Hudgell (Hull KR owner) and the medical team at Hull KR, I have made a very difficult decision to retire immediately.

“Rugby league has always come first before anything, now I think it’s time to put my health, my future, my family first.

“I’m still finding it hard to come to terms with this decision and it has been a very emotional few days, knowing that I will not get to play alongside my team-mates again and finish off what we started.”

Coote made 27 appearances for Rovers, who sit seventh in the Super League after 15 games.

He scored 161 points for the club, surpassing 1,000 career points during that time.

Hull KR coach Peters said: “On behalf of everyone at Hull KR, we’d like to congratulate Lachlan on a wonderful 15-year career. Lachlan is a proven winner and will no doubt continue that into his retirement.

“It’s a sad situation for Lachlan having to retire halfway through the season. However, his health and family come first and the decision is the right one for him and his family.”

Seminal moments have been slow in coming to Odsal in recent years and opinions are split over whether Thursday night’s first match trialling a new rugby league tackle law represented a significant step in the fight against concussion or an idea the sport should swiftly forget.

The crumbling venue, witness to World Cup ties and a record six-figure Challenge Cup crowd in 1954, hosted the first match in an initial eight-week experiment at academy level which bars tackles above armpit height at first contact, and penalises all contact with the head at neck.

The match between the respective under-18 teams of Bradford and Leeds, which was won by the latter 50-32, featured the expected stratospheric penalty count, with 57 interventions by referee Matthew Lynn overall, including 49 for high tackles.

The trial is part of a bid to reduce the number of concussions in the game, with the intention, if it is backed up by data, of enshrining the new tackle technique in law across both community and academy fixtures in the game, though not at the elite level.

Bradford head of youth Ryan Hunkin said: “I went in open-minded, I didn’t know what it would be like, and I don’t think it was as bad as people were expecting.

“We knew there would be more penalties and they had more energy at half-time than normal because of the stop-start nature, but kids adapt. It’s the ideal age for them to try it because they adapt quickly at this age, and they soon pick it up.”

Both teams gave away two penalties each in the opening two sets, including in the first tackle of the game, and rumblings of discontent were clear among the players and the handful of spectators in the cavernous old stadium.

The inevitable stalls in momentum were mitigated by the opportunity for a more expansive game, with both sides tending to limit themselves to two men in the tackle, for fear that a third would inevitably incur another penalty.

Striking the right balance is crucial for Hunkin, who added: “As a spectacle I don’t think it was where it will be in eight weeks. It’s a start, and we’ve got to start somewhere. But it’s a contact sport and we want to try and keep it a contact sport.”

Rugby league’s approach to lowering concussion levels in the sport differs markedly from the approach of rugby union, which sparked controversy with its out-of-the-blue announcement in January that it was lowering the allowed tackle height to below the waist in all forms of the community game from July.

The backlash was such that the Rugby Football Union subsequently amended its new tackle height to below the sternum, although there remains resistance to the changes that are due to come into force next month.

While league officials hope their more inclusive move will ensure broader backing within the game, there is clearly concern in some quarters, and Hunkin’s counterpart at Leeds, John Bastian, reflected a markedly more measured response to the trial among the Rhinos backroom staff.

“I understand what the RFL are doing but something has to be better than that for us to make our sport safer because that is very, very difficult to watch and play in,” said Bastian.

“It was very complex for both teams and very complicated to play any rugby with any skill or momentum. The rules are being challenged by the Rugby Football League. That’s fine but it made the rules more complicated tonight.”

There was also an acknowledgement of the huge task facing officials in calling near-constant infractions in the tackle while maintaining a focus on other aspects of the game.

Elite referee Marcus Griffiths, who is effectively leading the roll-out from an officials’ perspective, praised the performance of Lynn, but stressed the importance of respecting the difficulties faced by referees in rolling out the new rules.

“It’s a massive ask to referee that way because we’re taught certain ways of identifying tackles and foul play, and we’re having to adapt too,” said Griffiths.

“He’s done an amazing job. It was challenging at times out there, and it’s a massive learning curve. At times, we’re going to need arms around officials because it’s challenging.

“To go out and give 57 penalties, it’s frustrating and at times you’re going to have players taking out their frustrations on you.”

Scientists are hoping to move a step closer to cracking the concussion code for female athletes before the end of the year.

Marker Diagnostics has developed a tool which can identify the “unique signature” for concussion in a male player’s saliva.

In 2021, a University of Birmingham study found the tool was able to accurately predict the outcome of 94 per cent of head injury assessments (HIAs) conducted on elite male rugby players.

Marker researchers are now working to establish whether the same test can also accurately and objectively diagnose concussion in female players, or if a female-specific test is required.

Testing has been going on in the English women’s top flight since 2018, at the Women’s World Cup and the Farah Palmer Cup in New Zealand last year and at the TikTok Six Nations last year and this year.

The study, jointly funded by World Rugby and Marker, is set to continue in the English elite game and in this summer’s Farah Palmer Cup, and potentially in other women’s competitions where HIAs are conducted.

All players who consent to participate are given a ‘baseline’ saliva swab and fill out a health questionnaire prior to competing. They are then retested if they undergo an HIA at any point during competition.

These tests are taken at each stage of the HIA – immediately after an impact during a match, immediately after the match and between 36 and 48 hours after the match.

Patrick O’Halloran, a senior medical adviser at Marker, told the PA news agency: “We’ve seen differences between men and women at baseline, the thing we should be able to uncover by the end of this year will be whether concussion expression is different in women or is it just diagnosed differently, and what happens after that concussion.

“It could be ‘OK, men and women look a bit different on the basis of these markers, but actually those differences are proportional and after a concussion, the test is still positive when we expect it to be.

“Or actually it could be that you need a different panel of biomarkers in women altogether.”

Asked why this study is so important, O’Halloran added: “This is a group of athletes playing at a unique time, when women’s sport is really exploding in terms of its popularity.

“The opportunities for women’s sports at the moment are really, really huge. Unfortunately, at the same time, there isn’t the same resource in women’s sport as there is in men’s. But women still get concussed.

“Medics in women’s sports still have that challenge of trying to objectively diagnose concussion in female athletes. So putting something in place that can bridge that gap in resource is going to be really powerful as women’s sport continues to expand and develop.

“This is providing additional information, unique information that wasn’t available before to make players safer.

“That’s what everyone wants – players, players’ representatives, coaches want more clarity and objectivity, and what leagues want is a more consistent standard of care and a consistency and objectivity to that too.

“What we’re looking for is that signature that is unique to concussion to enable medically informed treatment.”

Published research suggests female athletes suffer a higher rate of concussion, which may be accompanied by a wider range of more severe and prolonged symptoms compared to their male counterparts.

Dr Valentina Di Pietro, from the University of Birmingham, said: “Concussion can be difficult to diagnose, particularly in settings such as grassroots sports where evaluation by a specialist clinician is not possible.

“Consequently, some concussions may go undiagnosed. A non-invasive and accurate diagnostic test using saliva is a real game-changer and will provide an invaluable tool to help doctors diagnose concussions more consistently and accurately.”

The Los Angeles Lakers expect to have Anthony Davis on the court as they again attempt to close out the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of their Western Conference semi-final series on Friday.

After exiting Wednesday’s 121-106 loss with a head injury, Davis apparently is not in the concussion protocol, according to reports, and should be ready to play.

The league’s concussion protocol prohibits a player diagnosed with a concussion from playing in a game that same day or the next calendar day.

An official injury report will be released later Thursday.

Davis’ availability appeared murky after he was inadvertently hit in the head and was reportedly feeling woozy and required a wheelchair to go to the locker room.

Immediate tests after the game were encouraging, however, according to Lakers coach Darvin Ham.

“He seems to be doing really good already,” Ham told reporters after the game.

Davis was injured with 7:43 to go in the fourth quarter when Kevon Looney’s elbow hit him in the head as the two were converging under the basket on D’Angelo Russell’s driving layup.

The 6-foot-10 superstar stayed in the game until the Lakers’ next possession before taking a seat on the bench.

Prior to leaving, Davis was in the midst of another solid game, totalling 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting to go with nine rebounds and three assists. However, he did fail to block a shot for a second straight game after blocking 11 shots in the first three games of the series.

Leading 101-88 when Davis exited, the Warriors remained in control the rest of the way to keep their season alive and cut the Lakers’ advantage in this best-of-seven series to 3-2.

The series now shifts back to Los Angeles, where the Lakers are 5-0 this postseason.