NEWS Wally Lewis Diagnosed with Dementia and Probable CTE

This is a complete wakeup call to the NRL. Players like Wade Graham have been very vocal about these types of issues affecting players in their retirement. I think there needs to be a loading applied to all of the grade 1 careless high tackles (JWH) so that they begin missing games eventually. Nobody gives a **** about a fine.
 
Manofoneway said:
This is a complete wakeup call to the NRL. Players like Wade Graham have been very vocal about these types of issues affecting players in their retirement. I think there needs to be a loading applied to all of the grade 1 careless high tackles (JWH) so that they begin missing games eventually. Nobody gives a **** about a fine.
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Well, except for Ryan Matterson…
 
Sad news about Wally.
HOWEVER.

These players know the risks of playing a contact sport and still play because they love the sport and the pay is good.

I am 100% on board with post career assistance in regards to CTE and also finance education through their careers so they are not broke at the end of their playing career.

There is a lot of footy players who struggle post career and it has nothing to do with CTE and more to do with gambling addiction etc.

I am more sympathetic to the older generation of players because they were taught to be tough and shrug off concussions and keep playing and also bought into the stigma of what it meant to be a tough footy player.
They were also payed a lot less.

I do NOT have sympathy for this generation of players as they are far better payed and also know intimately the risks of playing a collision sport.
If you sign a contract with full knowledge of the potential outcomes, then that's on you.

I feel the same towards UFC/Bellator fighters.
 
Manofoneway said:
This is a complete wakeup call to the NRL. Players like Wade Graham have been very vocal about these types of issues affecting players in their retirement. I think there needs to be a loading applied to all of the grade 1 careless high tackles (JWH) so that they begin missing games eventually. Nobody gives a **** about a fine.
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Wade Graham knew when he signed up to be a footy player that there are risks involved in contact sport.
I cant feel sorry for him.
Its like playing with matches and getting burned, then wanting compensation from the company that made your matches.
 
Midean said:
Wade Graham knew when he signed up to be a footy player that there are risks involved in contact sport.
I cant feel sorry for him.
Its like playing with matches and getting burned, then wanting compensation from the company that made your matches.
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Precisely however you can't throw a worker into a pit of hazards and not do something to protect them. Every other workplace has controls to minimise risk and the NRL should be no different. Do we stop providing police with body armor and training etc because they "knew what they signed up for was dangerous". What about roofers? Just do away with the harness and elevated work platforms and let them deal with the risks involved because it's their choice.

Can't feel sorry for a bloke with a brain injury....wth?
 
Manofoneway said:
Precisely however you can't throw a worker into a pit of hazards and not do something to protect them. Every other workplace has controls to minimise risk and the NRL should be no different. Do we stop providing police with body armor and training etc because they "knew what they signed up for was dangerous". What about roofers? Just do away with the harness and elevated work platforms and let them deal with the risks involved because it's their choice.

Can't feel sorry for a bloke with a brain injury....wth?
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Yea, but there is only so much protection you can provide in a contact sport other than being well informed.
I am sure if you wanted to pay Roofers 800 grand a year to work without harnesses, you would get a whole load of blokes who would be up for it, regardless of the risks because they love roofing and the pay is good.

Of course it sucks some dudes end up with brain injuries, but they got those injuries knowing full well the risks involved and while its sad to see, it is an outcome than they knew was a possibility when signing that fat paycheck.

I reckon a big part of the recent few seasons crackdown on player head contact is not really to do with protecting the players and more to do with the NRL avoiding litigation.
 
Manofoneway said:
Can't feel sorry for a bloke with a brain injury....wth?
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And mate, i cant feel sorry for someone who made a far better than average living at the cost of his own health, when he knew the possibility of injury before signing up to play.

People know fireworks are dangerous, i don't feel sorry for the guy who blows his fingers off.
 
Midean said:
Yea, but there is only so much protection you can provide in a contact sport other than being well informed.
I am sure if you wanted to pay Roofers 800 grand a year to work without harnesses, you would get a whole load of blokes who would be up for it, regardless of the risks because they love roofing and the pay is good.

Of course it sucks some dudes end up with brain injuries, but they got those injuries knowing full well the risks involved and while its sad to see, it is an outcome than they knew was a possibility when signing that fat paycheck.

I reckon a big part of the recent few seasons crackdown on player head contact is not really to do with protecting the players and more to do with the NRL avoiding litigation.
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Absolutely it's to do with the NRL avoiding litigation. It has everything to do with this, regulators and future litigation. The law is heavily in the players favor with here types of claims which is why the NRL appear to be so anal

Morally it makes sense to protect players and pay them good money. The two can go hand in hand. Same with roofing.
 
Midean said:
And mate, i cant feel sorry for someone who made a far better than average living at the cost of his own health, when he knew the possibility of injury before signing up to play.

People know fireworks are dangerous, i don't feel sorry for the guy who blows his fingers off.
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These are bad comparisons. The fact is he could have earned a decent living and had some sort of controls in place to protect him from brain injury. Considering illness such as CTE are likely caused by recurrent head injuries during concussion, the current NRL concussion protocols might have protected someone like Wally.

Perhaps if he left the field after some of his concussions and didn't play the week after, we wouldn't be debating this issue.
 
Manofoneway said:
This is a complete wakeup call to the NRL. Players like Wade Graham have been very vocal about these types of issues affecting players in their retirement. I think there needs to be a loading applied to all of the grade 1 careless high tackles (JWH) so that they begin missing games eventually. Nobody gives a **** about a fine.
Click to expand...
Were do the fines even go?

Maybe they should increase the fines and add them to a fund specifically for player CTE injuries.

As well as a suspension.
 
I remember Robbie-O well, always loved watching him play. Terrible, Carl Webb the same.

However. I cannot jump on board this "the NRL needs to do something now". I just can't. It's not the same as an employer's duty of care - these guys have contracts with the clubs, sure they are licenced with the NRL too but it's not the same. They are individuals plying their trade in a dangerous industry where there is - and always has been - a very real risk of serious injury up to and possibly including death. I really, really feel for the ex-players and their families suffering from this, but IMO it is not the NRL's responsibility to "do anything" about it.
 
I thought Carl Webb is battling motor neurone disease....not CTE?
 
My bad, I thought it was something in relation to his playing career, whoops. Still awful though 😣
 
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