THE premature retirement this week of Sydney Roosters, NSW and Kangaroos captain Boyd Cordner is a reminder of how far rugby league has come in 10 years ... and perhaps a worrying insight into the game's future.
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Cordner became the latest and most high-profile player to have his career cut short by repeated concussions, and there will be more, of that I have no doubt, regardless of whatever health-and-safety measures the NRL has in place.
Other than UFC cage fighting, which for mine is just legalised, barbaric thuggery that has no place in civilised society, rugby league is perhaps the most brutal sport on the planet.
Week in, week out, elite athletes weighing more than 100 kilograms charge at maximum velocity into three or four rivals of similar size, all intent on belting each other into submission.
It makes for a great spectacle, but it was not until 2005 that alarm bells started ringing, when a US-based neuropathologist, Dr Bennet Omalu, established that repeated blows to the head was causing a degenerative brain condition (CTE) in retired NFL players.
In the 16 years since then, virtually all sports have recognised the inherent danger and introduced stringent protocols to protect the well-being of participants.
Even cricket, a so-called "gentleman's game", was forced to introduce substitutes for players who suffer concussion mid-match.
In the NRL, the number of players getting replaced in each game for head-injury assessments has become an epidemic.
Not so long ago, they would have received a squirt of water from the trainer, maybe a sniff of some smelling salts, and simply soldiered on.
And while the Roosters have been applauded for the care and concern they have shown for players like Cordner, Jake Friend and Luke Keary, history would suggest the Newcastle Knights have also played a prominent, albeit less exemplary, role in the process of reformation.
I'll never forget being at Brookvale Oval in 2011, when Knights forward Richie Fa'aoso was knocked senseless, stumbled around like a drunk, and was allowed to re-enter the fray.
Knights coach Rick Stone said at the time that Fa'aoso could "look untidy" after a concussion but usually recovered quickly.
"Sometimes you leave them out there to see if they can get back into the game and you don't have to make an interchange," Stone said, although he added the next day, that "if I had my time over again", he would have replaced Fa'aoso.
The Fa'aoso incident prompted the NRL's chief medical officer, Dr Ron Muratore, to introduce more stringent concussion protocols.
Those new safeguards were not enough to save another Newcastle player, former NSW Origin winger James McManus, from an even more traumatic fate.
McManus was forced to retire in 2015, aged 29, after a series of head knocks. Two years later, he launched landmark legal action against both the club and the NRL, claiming that he should have been ordered to retire in 2013 but was allowed to continue playing, suffering up to 10 more concussions that left him with "scarring" on the brain.
McManus's hearing is scheduled to begin in the Supreme Court on September 20 and is expected to run for 10 days. If successful, he could well receive a massive compensation payout.
Yet the Knights had apparently still not learned their lesson, because just weeks after McManus's lawyers kicked off proceedings, Newcastle were fined an unprecedented $50,000 for allowing fullback Brendan Elliot to play on after apparently being knocked rotten in a game against South Sydney.
Remember, that's only four years ago.
Times, and the powers-that-be at the Knights, have changed. When Tim Glasby last year suffered a concussion that would ultimately end his career, coach Adam O'Brien said at the time: "His No.1 job on this earth is to be a good father and good husband and a footy player third."
The real worry for everyone involved in rugby league is that what we are seeing now is the tip of the iceberg.
How many players from generations past have suffered and died because of concussion-related dementia - and how many more will in the future?
Call me a drama queen, but I have my doubts whether rugby league will exist 50 years from now.
For every gung-ho player like St George Illawarra's Josh Kerr, who declared recently he would "die for rugby league", there will be thousands of parents who decide it is just too dangerous and steer their kids in another direction.
And while the crackdown on high tackles, and the evolution of HIA protocols, mean the 13-man game has never been safer, there is still room for improvement.
Mandatory stand-down periods are surely the next step. And for all those who insist headgear won't prevent concussion ... well it's not going to make it worse.
I'd be making headgear compulsory, and shoulder pads. Even if that reduced the impact of tackles by only one per cent, it's better than nothing.
For many years, it was a badge of honour for players to get knocked out and play on. Those who didn't were considered soft.
Now there are no excuses. Everyone knows what is at stake.
Sad as it is, Boyd Cordner was wise, and lucky, to get out when he did. Just ask James McManus.
