The NRL’s high shot crackdown is about more than just player safety | Locker Room

The NRL’s assault on contact with the head during games is just the beginning with changes coming to how players train too.

The NRL is cracking down on head-high contact.

Where to next for the NRL?

The mandatory appointment of an independent concussion spotter or head injury assessment marshall watching every run, every tackle, at every NRL club training session.

After that?

Banning clubs and coaches from conducting full-contact training sessions during the season.

Don’t look away — it will eventually happen.

Peter V’landys and the ARL Commission’s full frontal body shot on the bogeyman spooking every sport globally is only lamentable to those who aren’t in-tune with the devastating impact of concussion.

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Referee Gerard Sutton took a harsh line with high contact during the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles v Brisbane Broncos match. Picture: Scott Davis/NRL Photos

The Commission’s unprecedented crackdown to try and eliminate players being collected in the head, once and for all, either deliberately or accidentally, has been called everything from reactionary to revolutionary.

In essence it’s a case of both, but ultimately necessary for the game to survive both at the junior rugby league level and also financially.

V’landys has referenced the need to implement the tougher penalties for head shots so as to encourage Mums and Dads that rugby league is safe.

But what the COVID-19 pandemic taught the NRL — with the loss of crowds, suspended competition and subsequent $24.7 million deficit — was that the game can only recover from financial ruin once.

The threat of a concussion class action or lawsuit by either a current or ex-player against the NRL is a factor that won’t be spoken about publicly, following the game’s latest crackdown against making contact with the head of a player.

But as much as the latest rules are designed to protect players, it’s just as much about the game protecting itself.

ARLC Chairman Peter V'landys is seeking to protect the code and player welfare. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Every contact sport in the world is doing it.

In 2015, the U.S. Soccer Federation, facing growing concern about concussions and the potential for liability, made a dramatic cultural change, implementing safety initiatives that include a ban on heading the ball in games or practices involving players 10 or younger.

Players 11 to 13 are allowed to head the ball in games but are limited to no more than 30 minutes of practice time heading the ball and no more than 15 to 20 headers during that time each week.

The NFL, as anyone would know, have been taking the ball up for every other sport.

Out of fear, most sports have followed by protecting themselves with rule changes that suggest; “Hey, you can’t say we aren’t trying.”

Compensation for retired players with serious medical conditions linked to repeated head trauma in the NFL has reached in excess of $1 billion in the US.

That’s the fear for the NRL.

Reed Mahoney was forced from the field after a blow to the head during the round nine match against the Roosters. Picture: Grant Trouville/NRL Photos

They know that one day, without doing more to stamp head shots out, a case file is coming.

In 2019, I interviewed one of the world’s pre-eminent concussion experts, Chris Nowinski.

Back then, Nowinski claimed it was only a matter of time before the NRL followed the NFL and limited players from full-contact drills during the regular season in a fight to kerb the risk of concussion and brain trauma.

The Concussion Legacy Foundation chief executive and co-founder of the Australian Sports Brain Bank said: “We need to retrain the coaches on how to teach the sport without hitting the athletes in the head.

“What we know today is that the sole known risk factor for developing CTE is exposure to concussions and repetitive head impacts, so we should try to prevent repetitive head impacts and concussion as best we can,

“I would say that’s inevitable that the sports, like NRL, will change.

“It’s just a question of how fast we can get there.’’

At 12.37pm Friday, the NRL sent a letter to every club to announce the crackdown.

That’s the NRL running as fast they can to change.