Eli Katoa head injury shows how rugby league must prioritise concussion reform – Alice Soper

Tonga player Eli Katoa takes the ball up against the Kiwis in Sunday's match at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport

THE FACTS

• Tongan international Eli Katoa suffered repeat head knocks at Eden Park, leading to brain surgery.
• The incident highlights rugby league’s ongoing head-injury problem and the need for better safety measures.
• Alice Soper urges a cultural shift towards prioritising player welfare over celebrating dangerous physicality.

What happened at Eden Park on Sunday was a horror show. Repeat head knocks for Tongan international Eli Katoa, before and during the test match against the Kiwis, finally led to his removal from the field. Those watching on were able to see clearly what team doctors reportedly didn’t have access to. Fans were all willing him to be okay and wanting someone to intervene.

Thankfully, we were spared the worst outcome. Katoa was rushed for brain surgery that we are told went well. The same reports told us there should be no long-term impacts. We will all cross our fingers and hope that is true. Regardless, this incident will continue to hurt rugby league until it properly assesses its head-injury problem.

Policies will no doubt be rewritten in the wake of this event and we should hope that cheques are too. There needs to be funding for more research into preventative measures. There needs to be commitment to adopting emerging technologies more rapidly. Access to all these measures should be universally applied. Player welfare should not be afforded only to those who can afford it.

This was an impact felt in real time, but head injuries are often much more insidious. Players are well away from the bright lights when the consequences of their actions kick in.

We’ve heard too many stories now of personality shifts, of depression, of addiction – of players losing themselves to the hubris of their youth. Once celebrated as hard, now isolated in their hardship.

We will read a headline or catch up with an old teammate, say it’s a shame then cheer for the same collisions the next weekend.

This is the part that we can control. This is the part that we must change.

It was three knocks that sent Katoa to hospital, but it can take just one. The same type we see many times across 80 minutes, that ends up clipped and shared on a highlight reel – an example of the physicality that has drawn over former rugby union fans. The tackles some fans and pundits alike celebrate as they decry a game going soft.

Eli Katoa was injured before and during Sunday's match. Photo / Getty Images

The NRL’s tentative steps to address head injuries are being shouted down by this part of the game. We see panels discuss at length the impact of enforcement of safety measures. They survived so it must be fine, just don’t ask too many questions of how their peers are faring.

Commentators often focus on the on-field incident rather than the wider implications. Coaches feel aggrieved and rally against referee decisions. Everyone cares about player welfare until their team has a player on report or a game on the line. It’s then that the entertainment becomes exploitative.

Without addressing this attitude, so many of the current interventions will fail. Undue pressure will be applied to referees who are simply doing their job. Coaches and team medical staff will experience the same, which is not conducive to good decision-making. It will see some players continue to manipulate their head injury assessment (HIA) baselines, undermining the value of the protocol. While others tell officials, during their return to play, that they are feeling fine when they know they are not entirely fit.

We all saw something undeniably bad last Sunday: the compounding impact of hard knocks. Most of the time, these collisions are spread across a season, a career, so their impact might also take longer to be fully felt.

If we want to soften the blow, it’s past time that we own our impact. Rather than wait for someone to do something, we can intervene. Stop calling the game soft and start calling for a harder line on player safety.

Alice Soper is a sports columnist for the Herald on Sunday. A former provincial rugby player and current club coach, she has a particular interest in telling stories of the emerging world of women’s sports.