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Time to scrap the NRL to prevent players from injury

3rd February, 2017
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Junior Paulo of the Raiders sits on the field following a loss. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
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3rd February, 2017
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A club administrator has called for the immediate cancellation of the NRL, citing it as a “needless risk” to player safety.

The plea came as an angry response to Penrith CEO Brian Fletcher’s half-baked idea for alleviating workload issues which was to merely scrap the Auckland Nines.

The unnamed boss claimed Fletcher’s short-sighted solution proves the game still refuses to take player welfare seriously, labelling his “weak attempt at advocacy” as more “half-pregnant populist froth.”

As a result of the continued lip service, the administrator is now calling for strong and decisive action that will quash injuries conclusively.

With high numbers of fit, young, outrageously-compensated players at breaking point after holiday season, he will campaign to the governing body for the season to be shortened by a number somewhere in the vicinity of 100 per cent.

To support his push, the club executive will present a self-commissioned study to the league containing results which are set to “totally question the NRL’s value to rugby league in Australia.”

It is reported the studies definitively link rugby league to injuries, while also sensationally concluding the competition to be responsible for the majority of player ailments sustained each season.

The administrator will vouch for eliminating the NRL provides a double-pronged solution that works for everyone in the game except the fans or those with a financial stake.

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Not only will it preserve footballers from football, it will also kill off other concerns in the game such as concussion and five-day turnarounds, while also conveniently freeing up players for European rugby.

He is also confident of the positive effect exterminating football would have on the NRL finals, with less teams set to limp in to September carrying shocking injury tolls.

But most importantly, the solution would benefit the game’s most precious commodity, the clubs.

With the administrator placing the value of his roster at “around $9 million- well, a declared $9 million anyway”, he is conscious of the need to save on medical costs, especially considering the next NRL grant is only coming in at 130 per cent on spend.

That’s why he believes “the less football for footballers, the better. If any at all, really.”

When questioned on the sustainability of clubs in an environment stripped of their staple product, the administrator said the shortfall would be made up from gambling revenue and the sale of advertising space in Friday night replays of old Broncos matches.

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