Rugby league is a hard-hitting, bone-crunching sport. You need to drink cement every morning for breakfast just to be able to play it. However, sometimes there are moments which make grown men, well, get dust in their eyes.
5. James Tedesco injury versus Raiders, 2014
Kick-off for the Wests Tigers’ clash with the Canberra Raiders saw Pat Richards launching the ball high into the air, and after contesting for the Steeden, young Tigers fullback James Tedesco limped away from the play the ball and hit the ground.
He had fractured his knee.
Watching a player with so much potential and talent to suffer his second major injury in just two years, being stretchered off the field as his NRL dream apparently slips away, it breaks your heart.
4. Ben Hunt drops the kick-off, grand final, 2015
While this moment has been made viral by a flood of comedic internet memes, there can be no argument about how painful this must have been for Hunt, and the Brisbane fans.
Scenes showing Broncos playmaker Hunt kneeled over in tears, as his teammates try to console him, show the true seriousness of the situation.
If he didn’t come back and play well in 2016, we would have remembered him for all the wrong reasons.
3. Jharal Yow Yeh injury versus Rabbitohs, 2012
Much like the Tedesco incident, fans watched an up-and-coming talent go down with a serious injury. Only this time, Yow Yeh would not return to the NRL, playing a few games in the Queensland Cup in 2013 before announcing his retirement in 2014.
After jumping for a cross-field kick, Yow Yeh went down with a bad compound fracture in his lower right leg. You knew straight away that he was gone.
To see a player like he was have his dream crushed is enough to make a tear roll down your cheek.
2. South Sydney break the drought, grand final, 2014
The last five minutes of the 2014 grand final may be the most emotional in recent rugby league history. The images of Sam Burgess especially, down on one knee, with tears filling his eyes, would trigger the emotions of any rugby league fan.
After fracturing his cheekbone in the very first hit up of the match, Burgess played one of the most spirited 80 minutes I have ever seen. His embrace with his mother at fulltime got the waterworks going households across the nation.
1. Jon Mannah’s death, 2013
Taken far too soon, Jon Mannah passed away of Hodgkin’s lymphoma on January 18, 2013, at the age of 23. The younger brother of Parramatta Eels veteran Tim Mannah, Jon spent his playing career at the Cronulla Sharks, where he chalked up 24 games. Being diagnosed with his illness in 2009, for him to play all 24 games while ill is a testament to his work ethic and personality.
It was a massive shock to the NRL community when he passed. The Sharks and Eels now play for the Jon Mannah cup once a year, which is a fantastic way to remember a great player and a great man.
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