With the NRL now three weeks away from its potential May 28 relaunch, the game faces its biggest threat.
And no, it’s not the coronavirus. It’s the destructive and outright ludicrous behaviour of players stating that they will not receive the mandatory flu vaccine required to play again.
In the past two weeks, we’ve had players breaking social-distancing rules and even posting TikTok videos. But now we have outright stupidity as the face of the NRL.
Gold Coast Titans player Bryce Cartwright made headlines after he notified the Titans and the NRL saying he will not receive the flu shot, after which his wife Shanelle Cartwright came to his defence on Instagram.
“People have the freedom to say what they like, just like we have the freedom to choose which medical procedures we undergo, but ultimately the proof is in the pudding,” she wrote.
“Our kids are a picture of health. They’ve never had an ear infection, never had a chest infection or bronchitis, they have no neuro-developmental disorders or auto-immune disorders and are rarely ever sick.”
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
What Shanelle Cartwright said is not entirely wrong. She and her husband do have the freedom to choose what medical procedures her family follows. No one is debating or critiquing that.
But if that choice comes face to face with your employer’s rules, then something must subside.
The timing of this issue couldn’t be more pressing for the NRL. All over the world, governments are racing to fund and develop a vaccine to COVID-19, yet one of the league’s players believes that they are not essential.
This is a theory that has been debunked and proven wrong on multiple occasions by minds smarter than Cartwright’s.
Not only does this represent a growing feeling in some corners of the world that has now infected the social consciousness, but it represents a new danger to the NRL.
For months, the NRL has taken blow after blow from critics who say that returning to professional sports should be the last thing on people’s minds. However, this new issue looms as the league’s most important battle.
Cartwright is the first player to come out and reject the NRL’s new guidelines, but he hasn’t been the last, with Canberra trio Josh Papalii, Sia Soliola and Joseph Tapine refusing to fall in line with the NRL’s vaccination policy.
It only leaves the league in one place: the players who refuse the shot don’t play.
Give players stuck in reserve grade who may not get to play again this year a crack at the top level. Let those players like Cartwright, who want to stick by their message, watch on from the sidelines.
The most important and valuable stakeholders to this game are the players. Without them, we have no game.
But if players are foolish enough to follow the words of Cartwright, then they should not play again this year.
Horseflesh
Guest
This JGK poster struggles with basic connections of logic. I can respect an uneducated person remaining silent when they have no expertise on a certain topic but when that person takes becomes outspoken from their uninformed position then that is just stupidity.
Shaun
Guest
Perfect example...the choice is simple. Wanna play and get paid, then jab. If not, no problem just get a new job. No point getting upset about it!
1.5 metres please
Guest
You truly are a hypocrite of the highest order . You waffled on about accepting when you’re wrong ( a dying breed ) , and now you’ve been proven to be wrong , you’ve not only failed to admit it , you’ve also attempted to deflect away from your hypocritical lies . And comparing a young bloke feeling up a few girls back in the 80’s to a serial raapist, really ? You can have the last word , I’m not wasting any more of my time on someone as dillusional , weak and pathetic as you .
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
Funny how the WHO data was available for all countries, but some countries used their brains to interpret the data and act and others didn't. Sounds like you'd be right at home in the White House or 10 Downing St...
Nick
Roar Guru
The same Trump who admitted on tape to fondling girls without their consent?
1.5 metres please
Guest
A lot of countries seem to have been misinformed and somehow got it horribly wrong . Perhaps you should be running them all with your incredible insight.
1.5 metres please
Guest
Waankstain funded the Clintons campaign, and publicly campaigned against Truump. Truump has also stated on many occasions that he didn’t like the man . But you already knew that , and that why you have zero credibility and epitomise hypocrisy.
1.5 metres please
Guest
Cancelling all domestic flights out of Wuhan , but allowing international flights to continue, wasn’t just an oversight. They knew exactly what was happening.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
"was deliberately allowed to spread throughout the world" And your proof for this is.....?
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
By using that analogy it simply shows you don't understand how pandemics or national leadership works.
Nick
Roar Guru
I'm fairly sure that was Donald Trump in that photo.
1.5 metres please
Guest
Clinton’s you D O P E .
1.5 metres please
Guest
Really ? Where’s your proof of the Spanish Flu being an American made disaster? From what I can see , there is no real substantiated starting point . But one thing is for sure , this F K N thing started in China , and was deliberately allowed to spread throughout the world .
Officer59
Roar Rookie
so you've had a cold & not the flu!
Officer59
Roar Rookie
Greta Thunberg says cows farting causes climate change & she's an expert!
Officer59
Roar Rookie
They're not doing it now either.....it's the dealers & people themselves NOT doctors!
Officer59
Roar Rookie
Many people mistake a cold for the flu.......when you get a flu shot it protects you from a certain strain of flu. In any case the after effects of a flu jab is usually a cold!
BeastieBoy
Roar Rookie
Flu shot does not protect you from catching Covid so there is no justification on that basis. If there was a Covid vaccine.. then there would be a justification.
scrum
Roar Rookie
Where did I say getting a flu shot stops you getting Covid. The experts have decided that getting the flu makes you more vulnerable to Covid. Good hand hygiene does not guarantee you against Covid. Instead of jumping to conclusions try reading what I actually said. Regardless of what you and I may think theNRL was allowed to proceed based on certain conditions one of which was getting the flu shot. Do you think the health experts just made that condition up for no reason- unless of course you are more knowledgeable on a Covid.than those with the qualifications
jacko
Guest
Scrum what a load of BS...Why dont we all just get the flu shot and then open society up 100% to what it was before the virus came along? If the flu shot was a way to not get C19 dont you think it would have been done before all the economic killing measures were implemented? The league players have no more rights than I do yet are given special priviligers Im not allowed to get.....Even if I have the flu shot...