Today we take a look at the efforts to make rugby league a safe sport and the potential flood of litigation against anyone damaging the health of players, as well as ponder why a new coach bounce back didn't quite work for the Bunnies.
Read on as we tackle some of the big talking points in this week's NRL Real or Not.
Rugby league is a dangerous game which some men and women choose to play
REAL: Kick-offs are the latest target for those who are in pursuit of a perfectly safe game of rugby league. In particular, the collisions that occur when one player is given the ball and expected to run as hard as he can at a group of opposition players running at full speed towards him from 50 metres away. You know, the way every rugby league game starts and restarts after points are scored. A very basic and intrinsic part of the game since it first began.
It has come to the attention of those that think the game is too dangerous, that these heavy collisions occasionally result in injury, particularly concussions. Their plan is to somehow alter the rules to lessen the impact of kick-off returns. Once we achieve that, we should next look at reducing the space between both teams at every play-the-ball, so that every hit-up is less impactful. Maybe then we could look at bringing in a rule where players are only allowed to jog and not run into collisions. Eventually we would need to have each player so heavily wrapped in cotton wool, that running would not be an option anyway.
There is a gladiatorial aspect to collision sports like rugby league. We the fans admire the toughness of those involved as they subject their bodies to impacts that we ourselves could not endure. There is a reason we applaud these people as they compete at a level we can only marvel at. They are playing a game that they love, that they are very good at, and the best are well paid to do so. They know the risks involved, and every reasonable effort is made to reduce those risks. But you can't continue to fundamentally alter the game in an attempt to remove all risk, in the same way you can't make Formula 1 drivers stick to a 60kph speed limit, even though it is demonstrably safer. The fans will simply stop watching.
Leave the rules of rugby league alone so that we can continue to enjoy it before the increasingly inevitable day when, just like cracker night, it is completely banned for being too dangerous.
Rugby league should pay for any player harmed whilst on the job
NOT REAL: Are we on the brink of a landslide of civil suites against clubs and the league for physical and mental damage suffered by players during their limited careers?
Lawyers for former Bulldogs player Jackson Topine have sued the Bulldogs and a trainer for a total of $4 million, claiming mental and physical damages for an incident that occurred at a training session. It has been reported that Topine misunderstood instructions around what time he needed to be at training, the coaching staff did not accept this excuse and instigated the standard punishment for late arrivals - extra time at the discipline they were working on, on this day it was wrestling.
Topine wasn't the only one pinged for being late, Braiden Burns was also subjected to the same punishment, which was to wrestle each of the 30-man squad one at a time. By the end of the work-out Topine was exhausted, physically and mentally, and not long after requested some time off, from which he never returned.
Now former Manly prop Lloyd Perrett is set to launch legal action over a seizure he suffered during training in 2017, which left him hospitalised with heat stroke. Perrett's lawyer, Peter Carter of Carter Capner Law, suggested the two cases would not be the last.
"I do think there probably will be more," Carter told AAP.
"I think it just means (clubs) will be under the same sort of scrutiny any organisation is with their employees or contractors. "If (players) are injured as a result and their career is affected, they should be able to (pursue damages).
"That's a good thing in my opinion."
Despite recovering from the pandemic to be in a healthy financial position, the NRL and its clubs are only a couple of decent lawsuits away from oblivion. If one of these cases sets a precedent, you can be assured that, like sharks smelling blood in the water, the lawyers will be lined up to take a bite. We already have the dark cloud of CTE hanging over the sport and the potential for players suffering the long-term consequences of concussions chasing compensation from the game.
It is a gloomy outlook, but the game, in its current dangerous form, may be on the chopping block.
New coach bounce not enough for a team who has lost the will to win
REAL: There is nothing more damning of a playing group than to have an instant form reversal in the game immediately following the sacking of a coach. There is absolutely no magic instructions an interim coach can pass on to a team that can make them go from easy beats to world beaters in one week . What it clearly demonstrates is that the players had decided the coach had to go and they simply stopped trying. There is no better catalyst for a coaching change than a long-term horrendous run of form from a team which is much better on paper.
And so it seemed as the Rabbitohs got their act together in the opening minutes of their game against the Panthers, just two days after the sacking of coach Jason Demetriou. Looking sharp, fired up and enthusiastic, Souths ran in the opening two tries to take an early 12-0 lead. This looked just like a classic coach sacking bounce back, but it wasn't to last, with Penrith striking back to lead 18-12 at half-time.
With 18 minutes remaining in the game, trailing 24-12, the Rabbitohs displayed all the lack of effort that had marred their performances since the middle of last year. After a Cody Walker grubber kick just dribbled over the dead ball line, Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards picked up the ball and raced out to the 20 metre line for a quick restart. You could see the shoulders of the Rabbitohs players drop, when the Walker kick they were chasing went dead. They turned to jog back to the 30 metre line, totally oblivious to Edwards, with little concern for what was unwinding. Edwards drew the only Rabbitohs player in position and sent Taylan May on a 70-metre run for a try.
So, maybe there was more to their awful run of form than a cynical path to a new head coach. Or maybe the Panthers proved that no matter how much enthusiasm the Rabbitohs were able to muster for their new coach, almost a year of soft performances on the field and at training is no preparation when facing the champions.