NRL General Discussion Thread

[Dexter]

Hook supposedly in trouble.
This is a big problem for Saints. If they sack hook then the players have total control of that club. The sooks and whingers who won't accept authority and aren't prepared to wait until they're deemed ready to play will also not accept any criticisms or accept responsibility for form.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out but I'd say Hooks career is over if it's accurate.

 

[Morkel]

Hook supposedly in trouble.
This is a big problem for Saints. If they sack hook then the players have total control of that club. The sooks and whingers who won't accept authority and aren't prepared to wait until they're deemed ready to play will also not accept any criticisms or accept responsibility for form.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out but I'd say Hooks career is over if it's accurate.

You'd think that the club needs an authoritarian coach to come in and smack them back to reality. But that's what Maguire was supposed to do with the Tigers and it didn't work. I guess what that tells us is that the culture needs to be driven by the players, as peers. Maybe instead of just bringing in ex-Broncos who are too comfortable with Hook, they need to bring in experienced players who are meticulous trainers, who act like professionals and don't take their ability for granted.

 

[Organix]

Is there any club in the top 8 this year that has a back office in shambles!? Seems like all the clubs with infighting and disorganized management are in the bottom 8 which is not surprising.

that could easily be confirmation bias, seeing that a club is in shambles because the media/fans are looking for an excuse to justify poor performance.

It probably is a cause and effect thing. Happy employees perform better and all that, but maybe some well performing clubs are also in shambles, but their dirty laundry isn't being aired due to lack of scrutiny.

 

[Mustafur]

I think it was a non issue, they waited for the awards night to happen after the NRLW side finnished their season and by then the players where already 3 weeks into their leave, they likely are all overseas on holidays.

 

[Morkel]

that could easily be confirmation bias, seeing that a club is in shambles because the media/fans are looking for an excuse to justify poor performance.

It probably is a cause and effect thing. Happy employees perform better and all that, but maybe some well performing clubs are also in shambles, but their dirty laundry isn't being aired due to lack of scrutiny.

As far as I know, the Eels office is a mess of factions and vested interests. And has been for a long time.

 

[Sproj]

As far as I know, the Eels office is a mess of factions and vested interests. And has been for a long time.

We can relate.

 

[Dexter]

You'd think that the club needs an authoritarian coach to come in and smack them back to reality. But that's what Maguire was supposed to do with the Tigers and it didn't work. I guess what that tells us is that the culture needs to be driven by the players, as peers. Maybe instead of just bringing in ex-Broncos who are too comfortable with Hook, they need to bring in experienced players who are meticulous trainers, who act like professionals and don't take their ability for granted.

It's a really tricky situation. They don't want to lose their most likely talent but you can't have 20 year olds dictating to the club either. Sack Hook, bring in Dean Young and he sees the development of those young guys the same way then the problem remains. If Young promotes them then they have won and you still have a problem which is probably worse because the next time they get dropped the toys are out of the cot again and the manger starts shopping them around.

 

[Alec]

Sack Hook, you give too much power to the players.
Don't sack Hook, you are stuck with Hook.
Can't win either way.

 

[theshed]

You'd think that the club needs an authoritarian coach to come in and smack them back to reality. But that's what Maguire was supposed to do with the Tigers and it didn't work. I guess what that tells us is that the culture needs to be driven by the players, as peers. Maybe instead of just bringing in ex-Broncos who are too comfortable with Hook, they need to bring in experienced players who are meticulous trainers, who act like professionals and don't take their ability for granted.

I think there has been a pretty big shift in the culture of professional sport. For better or worse the days of coaches yelling jump and payers asking how high are done. Young talent get starting spots and big contracts as soon as the reach adulthood and the Corey Parkers of the world can’t bully young talent about earning their stripes.

Its why we have seen such a huge change in approach by the super coaches like Wayne and Bellamy. It’s why guys like Hook and McGuire lose dressing rooms these days.

 

[Sproj]

Wow!

"Significant brain trauma": Ex-NRL prop reveals MRI results

The 37-year-old has played over 450 games at the highest level.

www.zerotackle.com

 

[Big Del]

Wow!

"Significant brain trauma": Ex-NRL prop reveals MRI results

The 37-year-old has played over 450 games at the highest level.

www.zerotackle.com

It`s not just hits to the head either .
A percentage of those more than 18,000 hit-ups during his career would have had the impact of a car crash . With rapid deceleration of the brain in the skull .

 

[theshed]

Wow!

"Significant brain trauma": Ex-NRL prop reveals MRI results

The 37-year-old has played over 450 games at the highest level.

www.zerotackle.com

It’s such a difficult discussion to have around personal responsibility and duty of care.

I know it’s not the same thing but I am starting to regret some of the decisions I made around my physical health when I was younger. Even when I knew damage was occurring I didn’t care and even when the damage started to become noticeable I still didn’t really care until probably the last 2 or 3 years as it starts to really impact my day to day life.

Surely there’s some level of CTE from playing sport but my bigger concerns are back, joint, and mobility issues, and pretty significant hearing and vision loss. The problem with the personal responsibility angle is that by the time I reached an age that I cared about making healthy choices I had already done irreversible damage. I simply did not have the perspective or mentality to comprehend how future me would feel. Youth is wasted on the young and all that.

I’m not at all trying to make this about me or drum up any pitty - I live a fairly privileged life in regards to health and I have no doubt a massive % of people, men especially, go through something similar. I only say this as context for how I really empathise with athletes in this position. I can’t imagine how difficult that realisation is for guys who go through something similar but with the far more horrific consequences of significant brain damage.

 

[Sproj]

It’s such a difficult discussion to have around personal responsibility and duty of care.

I know it’s not the same thing but I am starting to regret some of the decisions I made around my physical health when I was younger. Even when I knew damage was occurring I didn’t care and even when the damage started to become noticeable I still didn’t really care until probably the last 2 or 3 years as it starts to really impact my day to day life.

Surely there’s some level of CTE from playing sport but my bigger concerns are back, joint, and mobility issues, and pretty significant hearing and vision loss. The problem with the personal responsibility angle is that by the time I reached an age that I cared about making healthy choices I had already done irreversible damage. I simply did not have the perspective or mentality to comprehend how future me would feel. Youth is wasted on the young and all that.

I’m not at all trying to make this about me or drum up any pitty - I live a fairly privileged life in regards to health and I have no doubt a massive % of people, men especially, go through something similar. I only say this as context for how I really empathise with athletes in this position. I can’t imagine how difficult that realisation is for guys who go through something similar but with the far more horrific consequences of significant brain damage.

I get it. My knee is getting worse the older I get from league when I was younger, takes me off the bike a lot more now than it used to and I'm not even old. My collarbone is also bent out of shape from a basketball injury (yes you read that right) when I was a kid. I never got it fixed properly and now it plays up when there is bad weather, go figure.

Now multiply that to the extent of James Graham's career and the head trauma he received multiple times a season, yeah I am worried for him. It is strange because he is so articulate, I hope for his sake this is just an anomaly and not a worrying downward trend.

 

[Organix]

Wow!

"Significant brain trauma": Ex-NRL prop reveals MRI results

The 37-year-old has played over 450 games at the highest level.

www.zerotackle.com

First of all, that is a rough 37. Dude looks 45.

Secondly, the only way to really stop this issue is to stop the sport. It won't happen. There is too much money involved, and there will be people chasing that, to their own detriment.

It's good to have awareness of the issue, but that awareness has been there in some form or another for a long time. We all know it's a vicious sport. It's one reason the juniors struggle, because of parents not wanting their kids to risk heavy injury.

Once again, it ends up boiling down to a societal issue, wherein we must ask after the fair compensation to players with relation to their contribution. Some players might get lucky and come through their careers with minimal injuries, like Cam Smith, and some might have their spine broken like McKinnon.

The game goes on, we try to mitigate it as best we can, but eventually the mitigation will either change the sport or the players will shorten their careers, or they will hide it and play themselves into situations like James Graham's.

 

[LittleDavey]

Once again, it ends up boiling down to a societal issue, wherein we must ask after the fair compensation to players with relation to their contribution. Some players might get lucky and come through their careers with minimal injuries, like Cam Smith, and some might have their spine broken like McKinnon.

I agree - but there's also plenty of jobs out there where people can damage themselves just as badly - or worse - than on a rugby league field that don't come with the pay packet most of these guys are getting. These guys get a premium because their field is entertainment...there's plenty of other dangerous jobs out there without the publicity of professional sport. I'd say on balance they do pretty well.

 

[Morkel]

Just putting it out there, not in a blame or liability way, but just a potential contributor... but Graham was reknowned for not staying down. He was hard-man tough, so when he copped one high, he wore it (and probably made a mental note to run at them again but harder). Consequently he copped considerably more high shots than his peers as opponenents knew if it was sly enough and the refs missed it, Graham wouldn't milk it.

 

[Organix]

I agree - but there's also plenty of jobs out there where people can damage themselves just as badly - or worse - than on a rugby league field that don't come with the pay packet most of these guys are getting. These guys get a premium because their field is entertainment...there's plenty of other dangerous jobs out there without the publicity of professional sport. I'd say on balance they do pretty well.

I was kinda hinting at that. I'm not the biggest fan of the capitalist world of modern professional sports. My favourite sport is Hurling partly because it is top tier amateur sports.

I'm a chemist and some of the dangerous things I've worked with on minimum wage as a PhD student made me well aware of the silliness that surrounds wages.

 

[Organix]

I agree - but there's also plenty of jobs out there where people can damage themselves just as badly - or worse - than on a rugby league field that don't come with the pay packet most of these guys are getting. These guys get a premium because their field is entertainment...there's plenty of other dangerous jobs out there without the publicity of professional sport. I'd say on balance they do pretty well.

Hubris in hindsight