The game has changed from part-time players, training occasionally with weights made from a scaffold pole in two concrete filled paint pots and running a few laps of the pitch, to full time players with nutrition plans and stats based training programmes. Forwards have gone from big plodders to muscle bound athletes, and wingers from wiry racing snakes to powerhouses (no disrespect to those players of the eras that fall outside the stereotype). The magic sponge has been replaced by doctors and full time physios, and player welfare come to the forefront.

We can't change what's happened to past-players, but we can by sympathetic to their needs and ailments, and trust that recent measures (and adaptations forthwith) give us a safe and sustainable sport.

It seems MMA is not immune to brain damage arising as consequence of participation. I really don't think the occasional high tackle in RL is anywhere near the impact of these sports where the most lauded method of winning is to incapacitate your opponent through loss of consciousness brought about through head/brain trauma. A sport which celebrates kicks, punches, and elbows to the head. https://www.mmafighting.com/2021/1/13/2 ... ain-trauma

It seems MMA is not immune to brain damage arising as consequence of participation. I really don't think the occasional high tackle in RL is anywhere near the impact of these sports where the most lauded method of winning is to incapacitate your opponent through loss of consciousness brought about through head/brain trauma. A sport which celebrates kicks, punches, and elbows to the head. https://www.mmafighting.com/2021/1/13/2 ... ain-trauma

Quote ="Wires71"It seems MMA is not immune to brain damage arising as consequence of participation. I really don't think the occasional high tackle in RL is anywhere near the impact of these sports where the most lauded method of winning is to incapacitate your opponent through loss of consciousness brought about through head/brain trauma. A sport which celebrates kicks, punches, and elbows to the head. https://www.mmafighting.com/2021/1/13/2 ... ain-trauma'" It's not just high tackle causing the impact infant the majority of the damage will be caused from high impact collisions making the brain basically rock around the skull.

Quote ="Wires71"It seems MMA is not immune to brain damage arising as consequence of participation. I really don't think the occasional high tackle in RL is anywhere near the impact of these sports where the most lauded method of winning is to incapacitate your opponent through loss of consciousness brought about through head/brain trauma. A sport which celebrates kicks, punches, and elbows to the head. https://www.mmafighting.com/2021/1/13/2 ... ain-trauma'" It's not just high tackle causing the impact infant the majority of the damage will be caused from high impact collisions making the brain basically rock around the skull.

Fair enough, I am no expert on these matters. It does seem clear that there is a wide disparity between sporting bodies and their policy on the risks of brain trauma.

High impact collisions are the heart and soul of Rugby League and other contact sports so I don't know where this is going.

Limiting contact training sessions clamping down hard on late or high challenges would be a start to it. It's not about cutting out the impacts altogether but to cut out unnecessary ones.

If you watch a rugby union game they do appear to have almost got rid of high shots ... not totally of course.
League has always been tougher, with far more high tackles. Our game will find it quite a challenge.