For the best part of a decade, Newcastle prop Paul Harragon and Manly rival Mark Carroll were rugby league’s main event, including one famously violent collision that shifted the dust on the rafters of the old Marathon Stadium.
Now, Harragon has come out swinging in support of his former sparring partner’s push for the NRL to pay for brain scans following Carroll’s brave revelation earlier this month that he is suffering CTE symptoms.
Carroll has been on the campaign trail in recent weeks, pleading with the NRL to help cover the basic costs of $900 PET scans for retired players.
He has done countless media interviews yet, inexplicably, nobody from the NRL, RLPA or Family of League (formerly Men of League) has reached out to support Carroll or his initiative.
One of the game’s true statesmen, Harragon rarely speaks publicly these days, but he supports what Carroll is trying to achieve.
“A hundred percent, the game should support blokes like ‘Spudd’ and everyone else who is struggling,” Harragon said. “I was there sharing the blows with him. We’ve got to say, as a rugby league family, that we have a really professional support base so anyone who feels they have symptoms will be looked after.
Few played the game tougher than Knights captain Paul Harragon.Credit: Adam Pretty
“All the testing that is available should be available if they feel that way. Right now, I see an old mate, an A1 sparring partner, who is struggling with this and the NRL should support him and others like him.”
Under the NRL’s concussion protocols, Harragon and Carroll would have regularly left the field with concussion. That’s how they played. It’s how most forwards played. They played through concussion like it was any other injury.
Their most famous smash-up came in round 17, 1995, before a record crowd of 32,642 in Newcastle. Manly led comfortably at half-time and Harragon was struggling with a torn stomach muscle.
Before they kicked off in the second half, he asked halfback Andrew Johns to kick to the side where Carroll was standing. The plan was simple: throw everything he had at Carroll, “rattle his cage”, then leave the field.
Instead, Harragon rattled his own cage, launching himself at Carroll and knocking himself out.
It’s a moment the game regularly uses to promote its brutal physicality. Doubtless, it will be shown at various times before Saturday afternoon’s match between the two sides at Glen Willow Park in Mudgee.
One player who won’t be playing is Knights captain Kalyn Ponga, whose future in the game is uncertain because of a series of concussions that has prompted him to go overseas in search of answers.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a brain disease caused by repeated head knocks. While it cannot be diagnosed until someone dies and the brain is examined, leading neurologist Rowena Mobbs says PET or and MRI scan provide enough evidence to indicate its presence.
When Mobbs diagnosed Carroll, it explained the serious episodes of depression he’d been experiencing.
Harragon says he is not suffering from the same symptoms as Carroll and other players from his era.
“Do I ask myself if anything is wrong with me? Of course you do,” Harragon said. “But I’m lucky — I have no symptoms, I feel great, that’s it for me.”
He said he has focussed on healthy living post-career, a point rammed home by Newcastle University Associate Professor Andrew Gardner and Professor Chris Levi, who runs the Sports Concussion Clinic at John Hunter Hospital.
“You’ve got to,” Harragon said. “Both those men told me that what you do post-career is as important as what you do during it. That changed my attitude towards everything.”
Harragon’s remarks come as rugby league farewelled one of its toughest warriors, South Sydney great John Sattler, at a service on Gold Coast on Friday. Sattler had long suffered from dementia.
Carroll argues the NRL, which regularly spruiks its financial position, including a $64 million profit last year, should help its ageing warriors.
“I haven’t done this for attention,” Carroll said. “It’s the players I want to help. I’ve been tested and a big ‘X’ came back. I thank God could pay the $900. But other people can’t. It’s not covered anywhere. Not through Medicare or private health cover. The main thing is I want is this game to stand up and compensate any player who needs to get checked.”
The NRL confirmed nobody had reached out to Carroll but said help - including scans - was available through the Player Transition Program. Players are provided with a neurological psyche assessment, with 200 players having already taken up the service. The question remains, though: how many know about it?
If you need immediate support: 24hr Mental Health Line — 1800 011 511; Lifeline — 13 11 44; Beyond Blue — 1300 224 636; For children under 12 years: 24/7 Kids Helpline — 1800 551 800
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