Which NRL players could transition to combat sport?

Sonny Bill is pretty handy with his fists.

Honestly, I think looking towards the big explosive guys is a mistake in most cases. True fighters tend to combine athleticism with a certain grit stemming from adversity - a bloke like Addo-Carr, who has probably been almost the best player in every team he's ever played in, doesn't necessarily learn that. Personally I'd look to little guys who had to grind with a bit of mongrel to be successful in the NRL. Think James Malony at 135 or 45; Josh Reynold at 155; maybe Matty Bowen. That sort of bloke.

It would depend on their personal drive, like you say. It would be a terrible choice for a top-rate NRL player to try to make a living from fighting - Mundine has to be the exception that proves the rule. Mostly it's people like Tai Tuivasa who couldn't deal with the pressure of being in the Roosters squad, and could make more immediately through fighting. And on Smith, for the record I don't think you're too far off. I remember an anecdote told by Paul Kent about the Aus. under 18s getting in a BJJ blackbelt to help train them. He asked what they wanted help with so they showed him footage of the Storm. He took one look at Smith and, assuming the answer to be yes, asked whether he was a black-belt. To confuse a BJJ trainer into thinking you're a blackbelt is impressive.

Yep, there's almost no doubt Gray-Hand. I remember watching a podcast with Willie Tonga and Rob Whittaker and Tonga said he estimated he got concussed around 50 times a year in gains and training. It was pretty worrying to hear him talk about it, actually. It's still on youtube if anyone cares - grangetv.

I'd go with today's union defector. RTS. Agility, flexibility and explosive speed.

The heavy impact of the collisions in rugby league inflict more wear and tear on the body, particularly to the back, neck, knees, shoulders and brain than the strikes and grapples in MMA. Compare an MMA takedown to a rugby league tackle - the fighters aren’t charging at each other at full tilt, and they can use their arms to cushion the impact against the ground. MMA fights might look gory and brutal when you watch them on the TV, but those guys only fight maybe 4 times a year or less. Training and sparring throughout the year is nowhere near that intense. The overall impact on the body is way less than a season of rugby league. As to whether people who are concerned about CTE avoiding combat sports at all, well, it’s a matter of risk. If it’s otherwise a toss up between the two, the one with less CTE wins. In general though, the major attraction of combat sports, even for those who don’t want to suffer concussions is learning how to fight. It’s a really useful skill.

I understand the points that MMA is likely safer than boxing in this regard (don't think there's any hard evidence available but it makes sense), but what case could be made that it's safer than a non-combat sport? Beyond that, people motivated to avoid CTE seem unlikely to pick up any contact sport, yet alone a combat sport.

It won’t decline. It will only increase as the popularity of MMA increases. In fact, over the next few decades, as awareness of CTE increases, we will see a drift of junior participation away from rugby league to MMA. Long term, MMA is safer than rugby league.

I would bet my house against Cam Smith ever making the transition. By his own admission, he has never thrown a punch either on or off the field and as for wrestling, the techniques taught to league players have very specific objectives and would need to be enhanced considerably before they could transition to any form of combat sports. Most RL players would never consider a transition to Combat Sports and those that do would only do so towards the latter end of their rugby league careers. The NRL contract of a player like Ado Carr would almost certainly have restrictions on him engaging in any sport in which there was a likelihood of him getting injured. Most Rugby Players that do take up the fight game mostly take it up in order to cash in on their League built media appeal rather than for a love of the sport or any real desire to progress very far with it. They pick their fights very carefully and are more driven by headlines and box office receipts than anything else. There are some ex-NRL players that are more suited to the transition. Paul Gallen is one obvious example but as the League game becomes more about speed, skill and agility, the number of NRL players taking up combat sports in the future is likely to reduce. Even the likes of Paul Gallen is likely to move away from boxing as his celebrity status starts to decline.

Hi Sammy. I don’t like this new trend. People are free to make their money (or supposedly chatty). I’m no Bert Sugar but watching the footballers fight, youtuber’s, even the Mike Tyson vs Jones Jr recently, I can see how poor the skills are. I not interested in watching Johnny Citizen from Home & Away fight Sam Handsome from Neighbours. I want to see skills. The celebrity ODI’s from past or celebrity race at F1 (I don’t think gets even televised now, shame), I think those worked cause a little funny, but wouldn’t work as a regular or for many other sports. It’s the like the people ‘checking out a car crash’ thing.

I think most NRL players have the necessary strength, fitness, mobility, toughness and coordination to learn the necessary techniques of combat sports, but I don't think there are any obvious candidates that us viewers could identify as being future success stories. The players need to have a desire for combat sports and I don't think that desire is obvious just by watching them get involved with on-field biff when playing Rugby League. We all remember Paul Harragon belting Martin Bella in the State of Origin - but was that sufficient to identify him as a future star of boxing ? I'd say his technique was pretty ordinary that night and his desire to take up boxing was even less.