NRL must decide how to balance game’s warrior nature with player welfare
Josh Hodgson missed Canberra training on Tuesday after a non-concussion. It is up to the NRL to figure out how to manage player welfare and still allow rugby league to be the toughest game in the world, writes PAUL KENT.
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As if on cue, Josh Hodgson fails to train.
The Raiders set out for their fan day training session and Hodgson, who carries Canberra’s premiership hopes, was not among them.
Thousands of Raiders turned up. They did the Viking clap, sounded the horn and basically found a joy in Canberra that hasn’t been around for some time. Droughts, both farm and footy alike, have had their impact.
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On Wednesday, in a sign they are on the move, the Raiders will hitch the horn behind the team bus to tow it to Sydney.
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With Hodgson sidelined on Tuesday, though, it was an automatic question that had to be asked: was Hodgson feeling the after effects of Friday night’s non-concussion?
Where else could we be right now than grand final week in the NRL, where a double negative becomes the daily storyline?
Where Hodgson fails to train because he doesn’t have a concussion.
A night earlier former Penrith football boss Phil Gould took aim at the NRL’s concussion laws, calling it a “hysteria”.
“I think we have been way too over sensitive to this whole hysteria around HIA, concussion and that sort of thing,” Gould said on 100% Footy.
“I get player welfare and I get the importance of it but we have totally over reacted to it.”
It was hard to ascertain what, exactly, Gould was arguing against.
Was he upset that the game was no longer the manly game we grew up on, with hairy chests and men climbing from the deck with foggy brains. The concussed player climbing from the deck and unable to remember his man-of-the-match performance after the game once bordered on cliche.
Or was he upset the rules were in place as a safeguard against potential lawsuits, which they most certainly are. Is it merely an argument with an answer?
Gould had every right to be frustrated if he thinks the laws are not primarily there as a safeguard for players but instead, or that they are being exploited to keep good fresh players on the field and to replace tiring edge backrowers.
They are certainly corrupting the fabric of the game. But what choice is there?
The night after Hodgson went down Melbourne edge backrower Felise Kaufusi began struggling against the Roosters.
It was picked up in the Fox Sports commentary and sideline reporter Lara Pitt said the Storm were looking to replace Kaufusi, who kept looking towards the sideline. He had an injured rib and was struggling to move.
Then Kaufusi karate chopped Luke Keary and Keary came back with an aggressive swinging arm and a lock of hair.
It meant Keary was immediately put on report and Melbourne found their loophole.
Kaufusi was replaced to be assessed for a concussion, allowing the Storm a free interchange. When the 15-minute assessment period expired the Storm announced Kaufusi had failed the test, allowing them to send another free interchange on.
Determining legitimate concussions against the fake kind is only one of the problems around the NRL’s concussion policy.
It is no small claim to say how it might get played out in Sunday’s grand final could determine the result, such is the value of fresh players on the field.
Self-interest seems to be the guiding factor.
Souths fans have railed against the Hodgson non-concussion, saying he was clearly concussed and should have been replaced.
Were they upset that Hodgson was not replaced because his welfare was being ignored? Or because the 15 minutes they argue he should have been off was when Hodgson put the Rabbitohs to the sword?
If Hodgson had fumbled three times and missed four tackles it is hard to believe Rabbitohs fans would have been quite so indignant.
Gould defended Hodgson, who said later he had nothing more than a sore jaw.
“It doesn’t mean you’ve got a concussion, it doesn’t mean you’re going to die, it doesn’t mean he needs brain surgery,” he said, going right over the top, “but everyone is saying we’ve got to get him off.”
The overarching problem is the NRL can’t decide what it wants the game to be. The fastest growing sport in the world is mixed martial arts, where concussions are good for business.
The sport makes no apologies for it, and it is up to governments to regulate how young children can be to compete.
The NRL has always been a gladiatorial sport, but at junior levels the game needs participation to continue supply. They are at odds with each other in this current world and the NRL is getting no closer to a solution.
Meanwhile, Hodgson failed to train but the Raiders put out a statement. Hodgson had a virus, Canberra said.
Originally published as NRL must decide how to balance game’s warrior nature with player welfare
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