NRL prepares to reduce contact training as soon as pre-season

Players could face reduced contact sessions as soon as this NRL pre-season, as Rugby League Players Association chief Clint Newton says Keith Titmuss’s CTE diagnosis was an ‘orange flag’ for the sport.

Keith Titmuss, left, who died following a training session with Manly and RLPA chief Clint Newton.

The NRL is preparing to reduce contact training sessions, and the Rugby League Players Association is advocating for implementation as soon as this pre-season, its chief Clint Newton has revealed.

The move follows concerns around “player safety and workload” and with the NRL moving closer to being in step with America’s NFL and World Rugby in monitoring and minimising contact in training when needed.

“Players are excluded from the workers’ compensation scheme, there is no compensation for players, you have to be vigilant in this space … yes, there are risks, but we are playing a role ensuring the impact on the player doesn’t exceed a threshold,” Newton said.

The RLPA’s calls follows a series of stories by The Australian investigating the adequacy of the NRL’s management of head injury.

In a wide-ranging interview, Newton also addressed the CTE diagnosis of former Manly rookie Keith Titmuss at just 20 and NRL footballers’ concerns about training loads. Titmuss died from heat exertion on November 23, 2020, during a training session with the Manly Sea Eagles NRL side.

Newton is the first NRL leader to acknowledge the young footballer’s bombshell diagnosis of the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. He is the youngest Australian sporting player to be diagnosed with the fatal condition related to repeated head knocks.

“We want to ensure the game is being played in the most safe way,” Newton said. “The Titmuss case is an orange flag and a reminder to continually manage contact and collision in the game.”

‘The Titmuss case is an orange flag and a reminder to manage contact’, said Rugby League Players Association chief Clint Newton. Picture: NRL Photos/Gregg Porteous

He expressed his condolences to the Titmuss family. “The way the Titmuss family have been able to handle such a tragic loss, in losing a child, a family member, but to still continually front up to act in not only the best interest of Keith but also urging for a safer environment for all players in all contact sport is admirable,” Newton said.

“No one ever wants to lose a child, I just think they are so courageous, how the entire Titmuss family have been able to courageously navigate such a tragic loss.”

Newton was hopeful there will be a historic change to training protocols the RLPA are pushing to take place in just months and said he had constructive conversations with the NRL and key figures to implement the change.

Sporting bodies such as World Rugby and the NFL have moved to limiting contact in training to reduce head injury.

Repetitive hits to the head have been linked to long-term problems for players exposed to contact sport. This can include prolonged symptoms from post-concussion syndrome, including cognitive and mood disorders, as well as the brain disease CTE. It’s understood the RLPA wants to work in lock-step with the NRL and clubs when it comes to the limits.

“We are definitely in a position where I think the game has moved and is on the right trajectory,” he said. “Some players are saying there is too much contact training.”

The game was high contact and players and fans loved that, but stakeholders needed to be confident it was played under the best available safety rules and guided by the evidence, Newton said.

A potential sticking point between the RLPA and the NRL could emerge over what a reduction in contact sessions looks like.

“What is the definition of contact?” asked Newton. “We have to be clear on that. What does a contact session mean? I know in the NFL, obviously they’ve got the padded sessions and how many they can and can’t do, that’s been in place for quite some time. We haven’t moved to that place yet, but, you know, obviously the game has a commitment, and has made a commitment to do that.”

Keith Titmuss’s parents Paul and Lafo Titmuss. Picture: John Feder/The Australian

These were issues that needed to be quickly resolved said Newton, urging more education to help players and clubs understand why this change is necessary.

“Players need to be aware of the risks, and they need to understand why this is important,” he said. “He said such education had led to widespread acceptance of the need for concussion protocols and mandatory stand downs.”

The players union boss said the NRL’s move to provide guidance on contact training was as much about providing certainty to players, but also clubs.

“This is not about not acting in the interests of clubs, this is about introducing a safe threshold,” Newton said. “The last thing we want is inconsistency among clubs that sees some players exposed to greater levels of contacts and potential risk”, Newton said. “The NRL is doing the work, and we want the work to be completed as quickly as possible. We are advocating for this to be in place before the start of the next pre-season”.

It was critical players and clubs understood why the changes were necessary and in line with best evidence about player safety, he said.

NFL players are only allowed to have padded practice 14 times during the regular season and a maximum of one per week during the playoffs.

Contact sessions vary from club to club with some NRL clubs having at times, up to five contact sessions a week, but a new mandate is expected to ensure player safety is paramount.

“A player at Club Y might be doing two sessions a week, but at club X that might be four sessions,” Newton said. “Players are very alert to concerns around exposure to repetitive head injury.”

Players’ care and concern for others – even opponents – was unprecedented, he said. That was evident recently when Manly’s Tolu Koula suffered a head injury in an attempt to tackle Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, with players from both teams expressing concern.

“Previously players may have thought ‘stuff it’, but you now see them calling a trainer over to check on an opponent self reporting is absolutely happening,” Newton said. “Players putting their hand up and going to the bench would not have happened six years ago.”

Newton said the number of players assessed for concussion under the Head Injury Assessments (HIA) process had fallen. He said this was because the game was becoming safer for the head, with strict bans for head-high contact and a tougher reporting system. It was not because clubs were not assessing potentially concussed players, he added.

The RLPA recently surveyed 473 players with less than 20 per cent believing they needed to do more than two contact training sessions a week to be prepared.

The poll, obtained exclusively by The Australian, asks players what they believe to be the “optimal number of contact training sessions” they need to do in the pre-season to “feel prepared” for the season.

The results indicate the majority of players believe they are being subjected to too many contact training sessions, and this was not necessary for them to be prepared for the season.

If the NRL does limit contact training, it will put them ahead of the rival code AFL, which despite a recommendation from the Victorian coroner last year, has failed to do so.

In recent years the NRL has also introduced independent doctors to the bunker with the authority to pull players out of play for an HIA, in an effort to strengthen their concussion protocols.

The AFL Players Association earlier this year said concussion is the biggest issue in the game “so it’s vital we continually progress medical standards and processes to minimise risk and improve the identification of head knocks as much as possible”.

In the last half-dozen years, Newton said he witnessed a major shift in player attitudes about concussion, and this was due to increased education around the issue leading payers to accept the need for improved safety measures in the game.

“We are definitely in a position where the game is going in the right trajectory,” said Newton, adding: “but things need to continue to improve.”

The NRL declined to comment.