The NRL have done very little to try and protect players from a concussion. Yes, they introduced the HIA, yet that can be manipulated. I believe if the NRL's wants to get serious it must give out much bigger suspensions to players that attack the head of their opponents. The head slam / elbow to the head on Ryan Matterson during Thursday night's game was a bad look. What made it far worse was the extremely light punishment. Only a penalty and put on report, and then only 2 weeks with a guilty plea. Surely that type of thing deserves 10 minutes in the bin at least, and something closer to a 6-week suspension. It's only a matter of time until a player or players who suffer major medical problems in later years due to head knocks take the NRL to court and the result will be extremely costly. The NRL must protect its players and protect the game.
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As long as we bring back and encourage punching in the head, im ok with this slippery.
Lots of evidence around long-term health issues around brain function with kids who play football at age 10 to 12. and continue with football. At that age, the brain is more susceptible to long term brain dysfunction. Most of our footballers have played in their younger years and later cognitive impairment is significant in later life..That type of evidence is around and in the USA players have made their football clubs pay big-time in a duty of care compensation. They wear headgear and our players' don,t . I would assume the risk is much higher in our game
Did I read one of the tests they do in the HIA is to state the alphabet in reverse? That’s hard enough to do at the best of times.
Exactly Adam, it would be very taxing with my IQ.
But never fear, our favourite reporter PK was on the task this morning with his article on protection of concussion cases for our players.
He, rightly, argued that Kaufusi illegaly knocking out Matto deserved a much bigger charge than grade 2/2 weeks penalty, so as to be a bigger deterrent to others.
Here are the latest 2 paragraphs of his article:
And what of Matterson, who suffered his second concussion in less than a year on Thursday?
Matto was housebound for 8 weeks in 2018, also after a concussion. At what point does his contract value suffer because he is deemed an ongoing risk, and what liability does the NRL have after failing to adequately deter another concussion on thursday nite?
You nailed it Paul Kent!
Totally agree! Matto goes off the the rest of game , leaving us 1 player down. From memory it was 1st or second tackle ( no real advantage of penalty ). The following 3 teams Melbourne play get the advantage of not playing a rep player. And Matto is definitely out next round!!🤷♂️ My opinion is - if you get put on report - minimum 5 mins in the sin bin..
It's a no brainer to lengthen suspensions and increase the use of the sin bin as deterrents to players attacking the head. Look how effective the blanket rule of sin binning of anyone punching has been and it's effect was immediate. If the penalties were harsher and players were spending more time on the sidelines for attacking the head it would make grubs like Kaufusi think twice about doing it.
The same goes for the six again rule. Referees are very quick to restart the tackle count in the first few but they rarely do it on the 4th and 5th tackles. If they began to routinely call six again no matter what tackle it is it would result in coaches instructing players to stop infringing late in the tackle count. If that didn't work the referees are supposed to sin bin those who persistently offend.
The sin bin is very effective in curbing unwanted behaviour so the officials should have the courage to insist it be used when necessary.
I think a 18th and 19th man should be on the bench if a player fails a HIA the concussion sub joins the interchange bench you have 1 back 1 forward as subs.
To avoid it being cheated the HIA decision is made by a independent doctor.