warren smith

Those making the loudest noises in opposition to this process think that decisions to remove players from the field in the instance of a possible concussion should be left solely in the hands of teams and their staff.

You only have to watch a player pass an on-field concussion assessment, then minutes later be removed from the field for a fullblown HIA on the advice of the club doctor, to know that the 17 clubs need as much help as they can get when it comes to looking after the health of their players.

They should want it, if not demand it.

There’s more than a few people in positions of responsibility, however, who don’t like outsiders, no matter what expertise they bring to the table, interfering with the game they’ve played and worked in for their entire adult lives. They see it as their game, and if you don’t like how it’s played that’s your problem, not theirs.

It’s not a phenomenon exclusive to rugby league, either.

Back in 2015, the head coach of Michigan University’s college football program, Jim Harbaugh, espoused the idea that football was the “last bastion of hope for toughness in America in men”.

Jim would have joined the chorus of protest that rung out over the NRL landscape over the weekend and he’d have been welcomed as a soul-brother.

The coaches and football department heads who are resistant to the concept of having an independent doctor adding another pair of eyes to the process of ensuring that players are cared for in the best way possible would say, like Jim

Harbaugh, that the fabric of the game and the toughness of the players participating in it is being changed in a way that diminishes the product.

The same noises were made when the NRL banned the shoulder charge.

The argument went that the shoulder charge should stay, and that players should only be suspended if they made contact with the head of an opponent, completely ignoring the fact that the more shoulder charges you have the more likely you are to have a life-changing incident as a result.

Lose the physicality, you’ll lose the fans was the cry.

The ball-carriers hit by Jake Trbojevic, Felise Kaufusi and company in Round 1 could tell you a different story.

So could the fans who watched the broadcasts of the games last weekend in record numbers on Fox Sports.

They haven’t been lost to the game after the removal of the shoulder charge, and they won’t be lost because a star player – who may or may not have a history of previous concussions – is removed from the field to be checked in what may ultimately be nothing more than a case of erring on the side of caution.