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Australias coach Darren Lehmann has said Usman Khawaja is not out of favour with selectors, despite the batsmans recent comments that he and Joe Burns had been made scapegoats on the recent tour of Sri Lanka. Khawaja also labeled the selectors fickle for dropping the pair after two Tests in Sri Lanka, given both men were coming off excellent form in the previous few Test series.Lehmann said that he would have a private conversation with Khawaja concerning his public comments, preferring such matters to stay behind closed doors. However, it remains to be seen whether Khawaja will pay the price for his statements when the squad for the first Test against South Africa is chosen later this week.We have the GOAT, Lehmann told reporters in Brisbane on Tuesday, referring to Nathan Lyons nickname as the Greatest Of All Time. And now we have the Scapegoat. I love these nicknames ... He is not on the back foot. [But] I will chat to him privately. We would rather have these things played out between selectors and players.Khawaja and Burns were axed for the third Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo, although Burns had been Man of the Match in Australias last Test before the tour - against New Zealand in Christchurch in February - and Khawaja had made four consecutive first-innings hundreds during the summer. Shaun Marsh and Moises Henriques came in at the expense of Khawaja and Burns.Being on the selection panel for the Test match, it was warranted, Lehmann said. At the end of the day, there were different conditions and those two guys werent playing well enough - they averaged eight or seven in two Test matches.We had to change something, but that doesnt affect the summer at home. We have to work out what we think the best batting line-up is for the summer.Khawaja and Burns are in action for Queensland against New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield match that started at the Gabba on Tuesday, although they will have to wait until later in the game to bat as Khawaja won the toss and sent the Blues in. At the WACA, Shaun Marsh, hoping to prove to the selectors that he had recovered from a hamstring injury, was batting early on day one.And at the MCG, Peter Siddle and Jackson Bird were potentially competing for the final bowling position in Australias Test squad, to be announced on Friday - assuming Mitchell Starc proves his fitness at the Gabba. Lehmann said Bird and Siddle both had the chance to bowl themselves into the side for the first Test against South Africa at the WACA.They certainly can over the next few days I would think, Lehmann said. [Siddle] looked really good in the Matador Cup and by all reports hes got some zing and zip back. 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BOSTON -- Doctors who decide whether an NFL player is healthy enough to go into the game shouldnt be paid by the teams that have a stake in winning and losing -- an undeniable conflict of interest.Thats what a report released on Thursday by Harvard University experts in medicine, law and ethics says.The study by the NFL Players Association-funded Football Players Health Study also recommends a short-term injured reserve for athletes recovering from a concussion, much like the system that baseball adopted five years ago.The 500-page report includes 76 recommendations addressed to 20 NFL stakeholders -- everyone from players and teams to equipment manufacturers and government regulators. The biggest message: Player safety will never be the top priority as long as those involved have competing calls on their loyalty.So long as the club doctor is chosen, paid and reviewed by the club to both care for players and advise the club, the doctor will have, at a minimum, tacit pressures or subconscious desires to please the club by doing what is in the clubs best interests, the report said.This is not a moral judgment about them as competent professionals or devoted individuals, but rather a simple fact of the current organizational structure of their position in which they simultaneously perform at least two roles that are not necessarily compatible.Its a conclusion that was similar to that reached in an Associated Press survey of 100 players across the league last season. Asked if they thought the leagues clubs, coaches and team doctors have the athletes best interests at heart when it comes to health and safety, only 47 said yes.To resolve the conflict of interest, the report recommends that the league and the union contribute to a fund used to pay doctors assigned to teams.It should be common sense to avoid a conflict of interest between Teams and Doctors, former San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Anthony Davis, who retired -- for the second time -- at the age of 26 after repeated concussions, said on Twitter on Thursday.Although the study called the arrangement an undeniable conflict of interest, the league did in fact deny it.In a 33-page response , the NFL said it was disappointed that the report appeared to start with the premise that the health care system in the NFL suffers from an `inherent conflict of interest.The report ultimately promotes the untenable and impractical recommendation that NFL players receive care from `two distinct groups of medical professionals, the league wrote, saying that would have unintended but extremely detrimental effects on NFL players care.ddddddddddddThe NFL said the report fails to note any examples where a doctor put a teams interest ahead of the players, or establish any link between a doctors job security and player or team performance. The league said the collective bargaining agreement establishes that team doctors responsibility is to the player only, and that they are bound by the AMA and other professional codes of ethics.Players also have the right to seek a second opinion from a doctor of their own choosing, the league said.Tennessee Titans cornerback Jason McCourty said he has hasnt had a problem with the current system, but he liked the reports suggestions. As an eight-year veteran, he said, he is comfortable taking charge of his medical care, but a rookie might be intimidated.As players and grown men, as anyone (who) goes to a doctor, a doctor reports directly to you, he said. And I dont think it should be any different within a team.The NFL has already added layers of independent physicians to its concussion protocol, including unaffiliated athletic trainers and neurotrauma consultants on game day whose role is to spot players with possible concussions and, if necessary, stop play. The league says the role of these consultants is to support the team medical staffs in the diagnosis of in-game concussions.I dont really know how it works right now. I assume that third-party guy has enough pull to where if he thinks somebody is bad, hes out, said Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman David DeCastro, who went through the process against Dallas last week after he was slow to get up following a hit to the neck.After talking to the team doctor and the independent consultant, he was cleared to return and only missed one play.Obviously theres a conflict of interest (concern) with the team, and obviously getting rid of that is one thing. But for the most part I thought it was pretty fair and well done, DeCastro said. It was really good the way it kind of worked out.---AP Pro Football Writer Teresa M. Walker and Sports Writers Eddie Pells, Janie McCauley and Will Graves contributed to this story.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '