- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The game of rugby league and its fans have drawn great pride from their toughness.
It’s a brutal, gladiatorial sport played largely without protective equipment. Those who have played through injury are lauded for their toughness and ability to block out pain.
It made John Sattler and Sam Burgess into legends on the game’s biggest stage, helping their teams to grand final wins when they rightly should have been in hospital beds. Rugby league toughness is Trevor Gillmeister leaving his hospital bed to captain the Maroons to the unlikeliest of Origin victories.
In rugby league, tough guys rule.
However, the introduction this year of the HIA (head injury assessment) and our ever-increasing knowledge of the long-term effects of head injuries has dramatically changed the game. The NRL should be applauded for its strict stance on head injuries, and the new rules are essentially protecting the players from themselves.
It’s a welcome departure from the days when league was a “man’s” game, and a head knock a badge of honour.
However, these strict new concussion protocols have had some unintended consequences. I’ve lost count of the number of times teams have been left a man short for the remainder of the game due to a player failing a HIA.
Teams shouldn’t be penalised for protecting their players from long-term brain injuries by being left short a man for the remainder of the game. Nor should we force players with other injuries to play on because one of their teammates have already been ruled out of the game.
Who could forget Greg Inglis being forced to play a half of footy on one leg because his team was already short? He’s now out for the season.
The game must add and extra player to the bench and increase each team to 18.
Once they enter the game, the player whom they came on for cannot return. The number of interchanges would also not change, and any use of the reserve player would of course count as an interchange. The only exception to this is of course if a player was to go off with a HIA and therefore a team would not be charged an interchange anyway.
To be honest I’d even be happy if they went to 19-man squads, with two reserves and the same eight interchanges, but baby steps first!
Teams of 18 will also change the way teams select their benches. Do they go with four forwards, and a dummy-half? Do they plan on using their reserve at the 50-minute mark, concussion protocol be damned!
Or do teams stick to their normal line ups and pick a genuine utility as reserve, who they throw in with ten minutes to go? It will be fascinating to watch, and add a little more drama into the season.
This should dramatically decrease the disadvantage of losing a player to the concussion protocol, as even with a man down a team would still have their four reserves to call on.
Surely this is a fairer system then what is currently in place. It may even help to curb the possibility of teams exploiting the HIA.
Hypothetically, if you’re playing the Cowboys in an elimination final and scores are level with ten minutes to go, who’s to say a team doesn’t deliberately target Thurston with a high shot, forcing him to the bench for a minimum of ten minutes?
Having an 18th man to bring on will at least mean the Cowboys can bring on a fresh man for the last 10. They won’t be Thurston, but I’d wager that a fresh, fast back could cause some havoc.
This is a rule change that should be implemented right away. Not another week should be effected by teams losing players to head injuries and being unable to replace them.
The NRL has made great strides in protecting their players from long-term injuries over the last year. Now it’s time they started to protect their teams as well.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.