Injuries; why so many in today's NRL
Injuries in any sport are disasterous not only for the player involved but for clubs, fans and officials alike. The cost of injuries in the NRL especially when big name players are involved - are enormous.
If Rugby League teams lose a star player, the snowball effect begins. Poor results may ensue, crowd attendance drop off, tv audiences may decline and so on.
When we look at today's NRL it seems that more players are injured and the occurences are much more frequent. Why is this? Are the training demands of professional players too much? Is the quality of equipment or environment poorer? Surely not.
With this trend increasing, clubs are focusing more on injury prevention and management. Investments in this area continue to grow, as clubs realise if they don't - it will cost them.
Are players simply not as tough as in past eras? We've all seen photo's of John Sattler, playing on with a broken jaw. Or Benny Elias slugging it out in an Origin match with blood streaming from a massive head wound. We simply didn't see players go down in the past, and if they did - they would usually turn up the next week ready for the match.
Certainly some players bodies are more prone to injurues, when we look at guys like Sonny Bill Williams - here is a young man, possibly still growing and subjecting his body to massive tests every week. Shoulder charges, brutal front on tackle busts or crunching cover tackles. While his body grows, surely it's not healthy for it to be absolutely smashed weekly?
Pondering these questions, surely it must be that today's demands on players are greater. The players train much more, and their bodies are more like highly tuned machines. Meaning, they can run faster, jump higher and endure longer - possibly at the cost of more breakdown.
Generally the quality of Rugby League ground surfaces is better, equipment used by players is surely better as companies such as Nike and Adidas pour millions into football shoe development. Not to mention coaching and conditioning staff's warming players bodies up and warming them down.
We thought we would conclude this article by selecting the most talented but most injured team of the modern
Rugby League era:
Fullback: Robbie Ross
Wing: Eric Grothe Jnr
Wing: Adam McDougall
Centre: Ryan Girdler
Centre: Paul Bowman
Five Eighth: Benji Marshall
Half: Andrew Johns
Lock: Brad Clyde
2nd Row: Sonny Bill Williams
2nd Row: Bob Lindner
Front Row: Jason Ryles
Front Row: Luke Davico
Hooker: John Doyle
Reserves: Scott Prince, Jason Smith, Brett Hodgson, Scott Hill
On the flip side, the most un-injured player of all time - is Jason Taylor. Beating records for consecutive games, dodging danger weekly and playing on with niggling injuries. Please post your comments on the make up of the side. We'd like to hear who you would add or remove from this team of regularly injured Rugby League stars.
Source: NRL News Staff
www.NRLnews.com
nrl-league.blogspot.com
nrlnews.blogspot.com
