NRL: Raider shrugs off concussion risk

Joel Edwards.

Canberra forward Joel Edwards says the Paxton mine tragedy puts his back-to-back bouts of concussion into perspective.

Edwards, who returns to the Raiders line-up for Sunday's home clash with Melbourne after being sidelined last week, revealed his uncle worked at the mine where two men died on Tuesday night.

The news cast a sombre feeling over a media conference announcing Edwards had re-signed with the Raiders until the end of 2017.

He played down concerns for his own welfare playing league, saying risk was "part and parcel" of every workplace - and some more than others.

Edwards experienced a restless Tuesday night after discovering two men were trapped 500 metres below the surface at the Austar coal mine at Paxton - just outside his birth town of Cessnock in the Hunter region of NSW - following a wall collapse.

It wasn't until Wednesday morning that his aunty advised him that his uncle was safe, albeit upset.

"It's a real country town and I know they'll be hurting," Edwards said.

Edwards' return to the paddock comes as another group of former National Hockey League players filed a federal class action lawsuit alleging the North American league had downplayed the risk of head injuries.

It alleges the NHL put its players "at a substantially higher risk" of developing memory loss, depression, dementia, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

Edwards, however, doesn't seem to share similar sentiments over the NRL and the Raiders. "You get a bump here or there but it's nothing to be concerned for," he said.

- AAP