NRL to blame for horrific injury

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

A 23-YEAR-OLD NRL footballer is lying in a Townsville hospital with a broken jaw, his season over.

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

Surgeons operated on Sunday afternoon to repair a one centimetre bone displacement and a hairline fracture.

He is Ray Thompson, 23, Cowboys hooker and victim of a shoulder charge.

He was rushed to hospital in the back of an ambulance on Saturday night, with a crying mum at his side and a morphine drip to ease the pain.

For years doctors and all medical professionals have been warning us about the dangers of the shoulder charge.

About the possibility of serious neck injuries, concussion, even brain damage, broken jaws and cheekbones.

This was supposed to be the year it was outlawed. The message went out at the beginning of the season that shoulder charges were officially banned.

The usual suspects complained the game was going soft.

It's easy to blame Knights front-rower Kade Snowden for Thompson's terrible injury.

His shoulder hit the Cowboys forward with such power and such force that it shattered the jaw in two places.

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

I blame the NRL. They are as much at fault as Snowden for what happened and the sickening TV images we witnessed on Saturday night.

The poor bugger clutching his jaw, holding it together with blood covered hands.

The only reason players are still using the shoulder charge is that the new rule hasn't been properly policed.

When Paul Gallen belted Nate Myles in Origin I, the NRL introduced an AFL-style no-striking rule.

One punch and you're off. The very next Origin game four players were sent to the sin bin for striking opponents.

We haven't seen a punch since because players know they cannot afford to leave their team a man short. Simple as that.

At the same time nothing has been done to stop shoulder first tackles.

We saw one on Friday night when Bulldogs forward Frank Pritchard launched himself like a missile at Bryson Goodwin.

That hit was just as bad as Snowden's. It jolted the ball free and left a stunned Rabbitohs centre on the ground.

The only difference is that it didn't break his jaw.

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

Channel Nine's Phil Gould even half-applauded it as a good hit during the commentary.

Pritchard has got form too. About a year ago he put Panthers winger Dave Simmonds into the back of an ambulance with an identical tackle.

Towards the end of the game Josh Reynolds launched himself shoulder first at a Rabbitohs opponent, desperately trying to force an error.

Again it was a similar tackle to Snowden's, the only difference being that no-one got hurt.

So why should Snowden face a lengthy suspension for basically the same technique that others have been using and getting away with all year.

The NRL and referees have stuffed this up badly.

The first player to do a shoulder charge in the early rounds this year should have been sent to the sin-bin.

Same with the second and even the third. Players would have got the message by now.

Kade Snowden would have used his arms and not his shoulder.

And Poor Ray Thompson wouldn't have been in the operating theatre at Townsville's Mater Hospital on Sunday afternoon getting his jaw wired.

***

Furner one of the good guys

Dave Furner watched Sunday's Raiders v Sea Eagles match from a holiday house in Kiama.

It was the first time since 2009 Canberra had taken the field without the former second-rower and club legend in the coaches box.

A lot of football types I've met over the years would have been death-riding the team, hoping to prove management wrong.

Dave Furner is not that sort of person. He genuinely wants his replacement Andrew Dunemann to steer the team into the semi-finals.

I spoke to him shortly before the kick-off of Sunday's game.

"I'm about to watch and cheer for them," he said, "I can't wait for the game actually. I reckon they'll win.

"As for the other stuff, what's happened, has happened and I've just got to move on - hopefully there will be other opportunities."

In the meantime he'll take a break before joining the Kangaroos as Tim Sheens's assistant for the World Cup.

"It's nice to be a father and a husband again this weekend," he said.

"I can't remember the last time that happened during a footy season." 

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

NRL to blame for horrific injury

Dengan url

http://sportlanhealty.blogspot.com/2013/08/nrl-to-blame-for-horrific-injury.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

NRL to blame for horrific injury

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

NRL to blame for horrific injury

sebagai sumbernya