Concussion fears for NRL stars
Consistent concussions causing health problems for players in their life after football is a ‘‘scary’’ prospect for the current crop of NRL stars, according to Roosters co-captain Jake Friend.
Head knocks in the NRL have been thrown into the spotlight this week after Andrew Johns revealed his recently diagnosed frontal lobe epilepsy may have been brought on by concussions suffered during his career.
Johns has since said he doesn’t blame his glittering NRL career for the health problems he has suffered in retirement.
But that admission from the game’s eighth Immortal doesn’t stop the prospect of potential longterm health effects from playing on the mind of the current crop of NRL players.
Friend was sporting a pair of battle scars on his face suffered during the fervent loss to the Rabbitohs when he was asked about concussions.
‘‘It’s a scary thing and a bit of an unknown thing,’’ the Roosters hooker said. ‘‘We’ve seen in the NFL, the stuff that has happened over there. But everyone is different as well. You don’t know how serious each individual head knock has been and the other factors away from footy.
‘‘For me, it’s something I’m wary of as a player and each individual player has a responsibility on themselves, as well as all the clubs in the NRL. They have all the right things in place for it but it comes down to the individual as well.’’
Friend’s belief that the onus must be placed on the individual player – not just the NRL or club doctors – is worth noting.
Where former NFL players have heaped blame on the league – and won hundreds of millions in court settlements – Friend believes the NRL is now taking the right precautions on the concussion front compared to when he made his NRL debut in 2008.
Those precautions include the introduction of a HIA, a concussion ‘‘spotter’’ in the Bunker and the addition of a second doctor on the sideline during matches in case two head knocks happen within minutes of one another.
Combined, they justify comments from NRL head of football Warriors Raiders Tigers Cowboys Storm Rabbitohs Eels Knights Sharks Panthers Roosters Broncos Dragons Sea Eagles Jubilee Stadium, Sydney 9.50pm Thursday Gerard Sutton, Peter Gough Dragons $2.43, Rabbitohs $1.53
Graham Annesley which claimed the code is world class in its monitoring of head injuries.
But the majority of those precautions have only been introduced in recent years, another ‘‘scary’’ thought for Friend.
‘‘Even [since] when I started it is a lot more stringent, the testing,’’ he said. ‘‘We have to go off and do a HIA, all that sort of stuff now. There was none of that eight or nine years ago and I guess that is scary because it has only just come in. You never know the effects of prior head knocks or footy and what that has done to it.’’