The Roosters have found themselves in the news in recent times and not always for the right reasons. Firstly, we had their enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves passing the 300-game mark, then winger Dominic Young becoming the first player to be sent off this year after his high shot on Canterbury’s Blake Taaffe, followed by their cringeworthy decision to celebrate Michael Jennings’ 300-game milestone against the Knights.
For me though, the biggest recent story involving the Roosters is another milestone, albeit an unwanted one, and that’s club captain and favourite son James Tedesco notching his tenth career concussion in the loss to the Bulldogs, while noting that seven of the ten have occurred in the last three years.
Now I don’t know whether you’ve ever been knocked out cold or been severely concussed in a football game, but it’s no fun at all. If you’re lucky, you can bounce right back from a collision after a whiff of the ammonia salts, take your place in the line and even play on until the full-time whistle. Otherwise, it’s game over as the fog just won’t clear at all, your limbs won’t respond the way you want them to and the nausea hits hard.
Cop a big enough knock and you might not fully come around until well after the game, a game which you can barely remember. Then, regardless of the magnitude of the concussion(s), you can expect to feel disorientated, confused, and anxious for some time after the game, and experience headaches for weeks and months afterwards.
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Tedesco is one of the greats of the game and has nothing more to prove to anyone. He’s had a wonderful career and changed the role of the fullback along the way. He’s captained his club, his state, and country with distinction, won two premierships with the Roosters, a World Cup with Australia, a Harry Sunderland Medal, a Dally M Medal in 2019, and a host of other individual awards. He even represented his Italian heritage at two World Cups for Italy in 2013 and 2017.
(Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
He’s been one of the highest paid players in the game since joining the Roosters in 2018 and has probably earned more money from the game than he’ll ever need.
With his current high profile, he’s ideally placed to transition to a successful media career if that’s what he wants when he retires from the game, and it could be argued that the game needs him more than he now needs the game, so he needs to firmly prioritise his long-term health over anything else.
We now know the effects of head knocks are largely cumulative, and that concussion and other head trauma can lead to CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) and all that comes with it, so, with such a poor recent concussion history the big question for James Tedesco is how many more head knocks can he endure without causing irreparable damage?
Will it be one more concussion, two, or more? Maybe ten’s more than enough?
Boyd Cordner. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
With just three wins from six starts the Roosters are under the pump, and they need a fit and healthy James Tedesco on the field if they’re going to make a noise this year, and now with both Joey Manu and Joseph Sua’ali’i leaving the club next year, Tedesco’s continued involvement will be more important than ever, but they also have a duty of care to their players. The Roosters have previously made the right call in the concussion space in respect of both Boyd Cordner and Jake Friend, so let’s hope they also get it right in Tedesco’s case and aren’t tempted to put their short-term needs ahead of Tedesco’s long-term health.
I, for one, don’t want to see him being taken from the field after being knocked out again.
Tony
Roar Guru
Poor old Gus....he's already showing signs of one too many head-knocks. Doctors can only diagnose what's in front of them, and lawyers will only be involved to represent those who have suffered if the NRL doesn't take reasonable steps to protect those playing the game. It's the dinosaur brigade headed by Gus and his followers who are the biggest threat to the game.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
Well then Gus is right, and not for the first time, doctors and lawyers will be the end of rugby league.
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
neither does he anymore
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
"Personal responsibilty is king"; In your mind maybe. Legally though it isn't, because society picks up the cost. It's why you can't drive without a seatbelt or wire your own electrical work at home - your right to personal responsibility is trumped by the fact that the taxpayer is left with a significant cost for your unnecessary risks. High risk workplaces - and it is a workplace - have to work harder and prove that they have eliminated, isolated or engineered, substituted; they don't get a free pass because of the danger! I forsee some serious class action lawsuits in the NRL's future. I hope I'm wrong for the sake of both the players and the League.
Gary Russell-Sharam
Roar Rookie
point taken Cam, as I said there is really no defining definition on if being knocked out many times or only once or twice has an effect. I do not have a problem with Teddy continuing on. He is a great player I have enormous admiration for him as a player, he is the epitome of what I think a really good full back should be. He takes the tough stuff up when returning the ball and does the hard yards at times when needed and is always there backing up. He has in my eyes been at the top for quite a while and I do not see any slowing down as yet. He would be the first picked for SOO and Australia etc in my team. But eventually father time will catch him and as I said why not go out when you are at the top of your game. He also speaks quite intelligently and I would think that he would have a long life in the media after playing and get paid quite well. The warning is though that you can only go to the well so many times and you eventually run out of water. I think that he is no danger of loosing his spot this year but maybe he might think about it next year. by this time I would think that if he has invested wisely he should be set for life
Tony
Roar Guru
If it's me I'd quit while I was (hopefully) ahead
Badseed
Roar Rookie
My birthday is in January Skanky
Badseed
Roar Rookie
Oops I wrote Easts and it corrected it to brown paper bags
Cam
Roar Rookie
Tedesco is 31yrs old and is playing as well as he ever has through the start of this season. As you speculated, 10 concussions may have zero affect on Teddy’s cognitive abilities. Or it may show up in 40 years time. If Tedesco passes all HIA protocols, he will have medical clearance to continue his career, which could potentially extend for another 4 years. Does he walk away from $3.5-$4m further earnings on the strength of possible health issues in 30-40 years?. Much of the speculation is based upon our almost zero understanding and lack of knowledge of CTE. It doesn’t help that CTE can only be diagnosed once your brain is sitting in a stainless steel bowl in the med lab.
Tony
Roar Guru
Boy you've had a rough trot there Gary, but I'm glad you are okay. You're quite correct about people experiencing different outcomes and some are luckier than others. Thanks for sharing your story. :thumbup:
Gary Russell-Sharam
Roar Rookie
On the subject of concussion. This is the hardest subject to judge as it is so variable with each player. I personally have had multiple concussions, commencing when I was at school, being knocked out at morning tea and loosing a day and a half after that, then when I was 17 being knocked down three times and then had my head kicked in breaking my jaw and loosing most of my teeth and spending 23 hours in a coma in hospital and loosing a week after that of my conscious life and after that when I was 21 I has four losses by knockout in the ring over a two year period. I won the majority though, overall. And then to my career playing VFL and Union being knocked out on 7 occasions over a long period of time. I am now at nearly 79 and have no cognitive impairment of any kind. So my point is that it is so individual that it is hard to group all into the one basket. For one person 1 knockout is disastrous, I witnessed a player dying in my front of me after an innocuous tackle, he suffered a brain bleed and died. He had the week before been knocked out in a tackle. This was before any of these protocols were in place. This what makes it so hard to define, it changes from one person to another, even medical science cannot define who is going to be effected and who is not. My honest opinion is probably that Teddy should retire as he has done everything that anyone could aspire to and why not go out on top
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
Except it’s not. This workplace by its very nature is high risk, its employees know this and willingly take on said risk. The NRL covers its duty of care by penalising foul play, it isn’t responsible for players long term health. Personal responsibility is king.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
They could, but I’m sure he could easily find a park or country footy team to play for if he really wanted to keep playing. Bottom line is it’s his decision.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
Absolutely. What happened to Phil Hughes was unfortunate, but Sean Abbott did nothing wrong. Have you seen him bowl lately, bowls plenty of short stuff, as he should. In fact if I was Abbott’s captain, I’d direct him to bowl plenty of short stuff to Pucovski. Life is risk.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
"Hey Sean Abbott. You've already inadvertently killed someone who has no pre-existing health issues. Why don't you bowl some chin music to a guy who gets knocked out putting on his helmet?" You're okay with that?
Bernie
Roar Rookie
well said. it's extremely similar to any other workplace.
Bernie
Roar Rookie
hmmm, not registering him and nor playing him would ultimately force him to retire .... and rightly so. see Andyfnq most eloquent post below.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
Absolutely
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Let's look at it separate from rugby league. Do you think a Sheffield Shield bowler should be given the burden of bowling to Will Pucovski?
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
Agree Bernie. The NRL has a legal obligation to provide a safe workplace and to eliminate, substitute, isolate or engineer as per the risk management strategy the Heirarchy of Control. Failure to apply these strategies to known risks opens an organisation up to future legal action if injuries or impairments caused by employment develop. If the known medical evidence points to an employee being at high risk of a serious medical condition if they perform a task, you cannot have them perform that task - even if they want to - without forgoing any legal protection in the event of future injury or impairment due to workplace activity. BTW this is something the League might want to think about when their rules and enforcement regarding protecting the heads of players appears inconsistent at best.