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Less than two hours before Sunday’s South Sydney-Sydney Roosters epic, Trent Robinson told us on Triple M: “We want to leave some of them on the ground”.
The previous evening, when questioned about two of his players being placed on report for two challenges on Johnathan Thurston (Beau Scott twice), Newcastle coach Rick Stone said it was “part and parcel” of “competing”.
We have concussion tests and punching bans and no more shoulder charges, but rugby league is still a brutal game. We still have match plans that would make many blush.
The big question is how our cleaner rule interpretations and general squeamishness towards violence intersect with the primal intent that is still there in rugby league, not far from the surface.
It’s the friction that occurs along the invisible plane above the sideline, between an aggressive, tribal, Victorian-era sport and the 21st century that lies on the other side.
It was intriguing to read that the Sydney Roosters doctor, Ameer Ibrahim, often keeps players off the field for concussion without even giving them the standard cognisance test.
You see, the Roosters did leave someone on the ground on Sunday – Rabbitohs halfback Adam Reynolds, who staggered around after trying to bring down a fellow who was just running hard but passed that test and was allowed to return.
Paul Green, the Cowboys coach, argues that because on-field justice can no longer be meted out, we need to be stricter in the judicial process that takes place off the pitch.
The two games, the two apparent instructions to players, have uncompromising aggression in common – but that’s where the similarities mostly end. There is one link – if we’re going to force the victims of head knocks to stay off, we have to impose tougher penalties on the perpetrators as well.
But the solution to punch-drunk players returning to the field is simple – an NRL appointee examines them and stops them doing so. Sorry, but I see the argument that the player’s club doctor knows him best as a smother in circumstances when that player can’t stand up straight.
That’s a concussion to anyone.
I interviewed Reynolds at full time and you could tell he was nervous about saying anything that suggested he was still in any way disoriented when he returned.
The way to legislate for some sort of vigilante justice substitute is altogether more complicated.
You can’t legislate for tougher penalties if the victim is a good player. You can’t admit we have to compensate for violent retribution because violent retribution has always been illegal – even if it occurred anyway.
What we can do is try harder to outlaw lifting, which was a factor in the tackle on Thurston by Scott and Chris Houston. I thought we were going to have a study to show what other dangerous trends would emerge if we banned lifting completely – I’ve not heard the results of that study.
What we can also do is recognise the danger to an attacking player when he has relaxed after passing or kicking the ball. At the moment, it seems when we judge these incidents we look only at the actions of the would-be assailant.
The “part and parcel” and “leave them on the ground” asides from the weekend prove that, despite the denials, part of the aim in rugby league is still to hurt people. One day, the invisible pane around the field will come down – maybe it will be the 22nd century by then – and rugby league will be no more.
In the meantime, more and more holes will pop up in that imaginary glass. The conventions that apply on the street and in society will leak onto the playing field and there’s nothing we can do about it.
If we want the game to remain a participant sport and a community asset, we need fewer people on our TVs looking like Johnathan Thurston and Adam Reynolds did at the weekend.
How do players feel when they are forced to come off for a concussion assessment?
I was in the tunnel when Wests Tigers’ Marty Taupau was escorted off in Monday Night Football and he told anyone listening “This is horse shit, it’s embarrassing”.
But he still used concussion as an excuse to dodge being interviewed afterwards!