Retires with immediate effect! WTF! www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/32515217

Retires with immediate effect! WTF! www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/32515217

Just give it a couple of days and Saints will make a bid for Gary Wheeler.

That's come out of the blue, they can have wheeler as far as I'm concerned.

We've signed Shannon McDonnell to cover for the rest of the season whilst Lomax is out for the season and Wellens is pretty much ruined by his hip injury.

It does however shift a big salary off our cap, which with the rumoured exit of Josh Jones to rugby union, would leave us in a position to make another signing.

Wheeler?????

Whilst reading that, there is also a link on the BBC RL page to the 1979 JPT final when we got beat by Widnes, 'starring' chief thug Jim Mills " if I don't take a couple of lads out of the game, then I'm doing something wrong" Wonder how long he would last in todays game?! www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/32496484

Whilst reading that, there is also a link on the BBC RL page to the 1979 JPT final when we got beat by Widnes, 'starring' chief thug Jim Mills " if I don't take a couple of lads out of the game, then I'm doing something wrong" Wonder how long he would last in todays game?! www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/32496484

I doubt it. More like Kurt Gidley or someone we were planning to sign next season.

He could always sign for Salford.

Litigation in the pipeline?
Has he had concussion issues before? If not, I bet there's a few squeaky bums with WN postcodes, tonight.

Shame for the fella.

Hopefully he's okay. It'll be interesting to see what happens from here. There is a lot of litigation going around in the NFL at the moment, with huge sums being paid out. Sums that would financially ruin the RFL, even if scaled down to our salary levels. You have to wonder how robust the RFL would be under this kind of action. I'm sure there wouldn't be a shortage of other players with similar conditions who have just put up with it or accepted it as the result of playing league for so long. I'm no legal or medical expert, but if it can be proven it was the Flower punch and there is action against him, I have no problems with that, he deserves it and it was clearly an intentional act.

There is no indication yet that it's coming, but we'll have to wait and see.

Now he has come out and said his retirement was due to a concussion-related illness, this could be the start of a very long and dangerous road for the RFL as far as litigation is concerned, come to think of it, the RFU would probably be brought into it too.

It's not as though the players sign any form of contract ahead of time, absolving the code(s) from any damages caused by the sport....or do they?!

There are potentially lots of legal questions - have players signed a waiver of any claim (and from memory I think you can't exclude liability for personal injury anyway?), to what extent have players impliedly given consent to a certain amount of physical contact and risk by taking the field, is there a duty of care which a club/governing body has to players to manage that risk and protect players, and if so what is the extent of that duty? I suspect a lot of these questions will surface over the next few years, it could be a minefield.

Yeah, I would love to find out from anyone who knows what is stipulated in a players contract as regards personal injury brought on by events on the field of play?!

Interesting article on the Saints forum - scary stuff m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article ... d=11264856

Interesting article on the Saints forum - scary stuff m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article ... d=11264856

Sadly this has been the case for a long, long, time. Although it relates to most sports not just rugby.

Quote ="Bobby_Peru"Sadly this has been the case for a long, long, time. Although it relates to most sports not just rugby.'" Yup, i know we've got a couple of UFC followers on here, i dont know if they are familiar with the case of TJ Grant, the former lightwight no1 contender, was supposed to fight for the title around the end of 2013 but copped a concussion in training, and he's STILL recovering from it now. I dont know if he's resumed training at all but he hasn't fought in the octagon since. mmajunkie.com/2014/10/ufc-lightw ... gon-return

Quote ="Bobby_Peru"Sadly this has been the case for a long, long, time. Although it relates to most sports not just rugby.'" Yup, i know we've got a couple of UFC followers on here, i dont know if they are familiar with the case of TJ Grant, the former lightwight no1 contender, was supposed to fight for the title around the end of 2013 but copped a concussion in training, and he's STILL recovering from it now. I dont know if he's resumed training at all but he hasn't fought in the octagon since. mmajunkie.com/2014/10/ufc-lightw ... gon-return

Injuries ending players careers are normally covered by some form of sports insurance policy. Payouts would depend on the players age when "retiring" and the nature of the injury, taking into account their potential to continue earning income.

As regards the obligations of the clubs..............it sounds daft but normal H&S rules apply. They have to do everything possible to minimise the risk to the lowest possible level. (ie:- dont play a player if they are not fit enough and ensure they get the quickest and best treatments). As part of the State Of Mind initiative clubs are now heavily concentrating on making sure players have a backup for when their careers have ended.

If a player suffers damage to the brain which only shows up in later life, is that also covered by the insurance ?

Yes....... it would just be a lot harder to prove the link.

Good call, he has a very good case of a ins payout as his head prone was nation news!
He has his head screwed on pun intended.

Sadly, I think Hohaia may be on a sticky wicket in terms of litigation, though I'm no expert. He has played competitive rugby since, confirmed himself fit to play and passed all the assorted cognotive tests that Saints and he must adhere to in these cases.

It might be difficult to prove that the problems he's having now haven't been caused or contributed to by events since the GF incident, and not solely because of them.

I also think Lance was far too quick to play the incident down in the press after the event, and would have been wise to keep his counsel until any potential longer-lasting effect had been ruled out.

Having said all that, I hope the lads takes Mr Flowers to the cleaners.

Well it may be, that in rugby player stylee he's tried to play through it, he's been in and out of the side this year, and it may be everyone has now just gone, yeah, he shouldn't be playing, and that possibly is why saints statement could be so matter or fact, in that they probably shouldn't have had him on the field, and may possibly be in an actionable position. It depends on how discussions have gone between player and club though, we all shall wait and see.


Btw, a tramp with no fixed abode leaned through my window and typed that when I wasn't looking.