'That's a bad one': Sandon Smith forced off after 'friendly fire' collision with Roosters teammate
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Sandon Smith's return to the top grade lasted less than half an hour after being knocked out in a "friendly fire" collision with a Sydney Roosters teammate.
The young playmaker was forced from the field in the first half of his side's clash with the Storm on Thursday night at Allianz Stadium, continuing a horror run for the club.
Daniel Tupou opened the scoring for the hosts in the sixth minute, planting it down in the corner thanks to some quick hands from skipper James Tedesco.
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In the same play, Kane Bradley was placed on report for a high shot on Tedesco.
"Geez, that didn't look good," Andrew Johns said on Nine.
Kane Bradley is placed on report for a high tackle on James Tedesco Nine
Melbourne hit back moments later through Josh King, who found himself in the right place at the right time and cleaned up a deft grubber kick from Jahrome Hughes.
Tupou would make it a double in trademark fashion, leaping above Bradley to reel in a cross-field bomb from Sam Walker to put the Chooks ahead.
"What a great target he is," Johns said.
In the process, Tupou moved clear of former teammate Brett Morris into fifth spot in the all-time try scoring leaderboard for first grade rugby league.
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However, the 34-year-old took his foot off the gas ever so slightly, allowing the next kick off from the Storm to bounce dead in a moment of madness.
"They've let it bounce and it's gone over the dead-ball line," caller Mat Thompson said.
"That was a misjudgment. I think he lost his compass there and he thought his foot was over the dead-ball line, but it wasn't."
The field position from the coach killer errors allowed the Storm to hit right back and take the lead through tries to Jack Howarth and Harry Grant.
Grant's four-pointer came at an added cost for the Roosters as young playmaker Smith colliding heads with back-rower Salesi Foketi.
"It was a bit of friendly fire ... they both go low, that's a bad one," Johns said.
"That will be Sandon's night over."
Smith needed assistance to leave the field and was deemed a category one, while Foketi was deemed a category two and passed his HIA in the sheds.
Sandon Smith leaves the field after being concussed Nine
"Looking at his face you could see he's been concussed - but when he was wobbling and needed help to walk, you felt for him," Brad Fittler said from the sideline.
The 22-year-old was dropped for the past two matches and returned on Thursday night with Hugo Savala unavailable due to a wrist injury.
Siua Wong put the Tricolours back into a narrow lead before the break in a see-sawing 40 minutes of action at Moore Park.
