An NRL club’s 18th man would be activated after two players were ruled out with concussion or if three players suffered game-ending injuries under a proposal designed to avoid the issues that arose in the first week of the finals.
The management of concussions remains a hot topic as the game tries to balance player welfare with teams exploiting the rules. Under the existing protocols, a team can only use its 18th man if three players are ruled out after failing head injury assessments. The substitute can’t be used for non-concussion injuries.
However, the rugby league players union wants changes made to avoid scenes like last weekend’s Roosters-Rabbitohs clash, which was marred by a high attrition rate and allegations that players stayed down to earn their team a penalty for high contact.
“Last weekend was a classic example, on one of the biggest stages, we’ve left players in a vulnerable position,” Rugby League Players Association chief executive Clint Newton said.
“Teams get an unfair advantage due to clubs doing the right thing by getting players off the field. Matches affected by multiple game-ending injuries like concussion or muscular-skeletal injuries, that will result in added physical demands on players.
“It can increase the risk of injury to the remaining players. It’s like driving a car – the more fatigued you are, the more chance you are of making a bad decision and potentially getting injured.”
Newton said three game-ending concussions was a high threshold for activating the 18th man. He pointed to the fact that it has rarely happened since the new protocols were introduced last year.
To offset any advantage a team could gain from feigning injury to activate an 18th man, Newton said the opposition could be given a free interchange.
Mitchell Moses suffered a serious concussion in Parramatta’s big loss to Penrith.Credit:Getty
“There’s a lot of chat about clubs gaming it and damaging the integrity [of the game], but you can put things in place where if a player was to leave the field after, say, three injuries occur, and it left them a man down, and you activated the 18th man, there’s options like giving the other team an interchange,” he said.
“That way the other team isn’t suffering an unfair advantage by people going off. That gives a level of compromise there.
“Or if a player comes off the field if they are deemed concussed, and it’s a non-reportable offence for foul play, you could give the other team a free interchange.
“There are mechanisms to offset gaming because we don’t believe that gaming should be placed at a higher priority than potentially putting players in more vulnerable positions.
“Everything should be under review, and this area is one of them.
“The game last weekend suffered as a result due to a rule that isn’t functioning as well as it could have.”
Head knocks have already played a role in the finals series. James Tedesco and Mitchell Moses were among the stars forced off the field due to concussions. The fiery Roosters-Rabbitohs game stretched the depth of both sides as their interchange benches were thinned due to injuries and head knocks. At one stage in the second half the Roosters were left without a player on the bench.
The recently launched Sydney chapter of the Concussion Legacy Foundation is pushing for major football codes to ban tackling in children’s sport until the age of 14. Neuroscientist Dr Chris Nowinski, who is a former college American football player turned professional wrestler, has warned that Australia is behind the rest of the world in combating the brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is linked to repetitive head trauma.
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