It really was unacceptable negligence yet i have not heard of any action taken to the people who allowed it.
2025 Pacific Championships
- Thread starter Spartan117
- Start date
It really was unacceptable negligence yet i have not heard of any action taken to the people who allowed it.
It’s the players’ fault. The NRL has made it clear to the clubs on multiple occasions that they do not have multiple cameras on them when they are warming up and thus the doctor and bunker are not on duty. The onus to report a head knock during a warm up is on the club. Given players often warm up without many of the coaching staff it is important for the players to self report in these instances which didn’t happen here. Had Katoa self reported he wouldn’t have been allowed to play, or if he was allowed to play, he would have been ruled out after the first head knock during the game (his second head knock of the day).
Enmore_Tiger
Well-known member
Not sure that position will age well.
Straight from someone who works in that department at the NRL. If anyone gets in trouble it will be someone from the team.
Enmore_Tiger
Well-known member
Unit the organisers of the tournament get sued for lax procedures failing on duty of care.
that will not happen ,it will just go hush and maybe play a game in his honor
Snidest 0
Well-known member
The legal system won't share that blinkered arse-covering perspective with "someone who works in that department at the NRL" when it inevtitably undergoes litigation!
Victim blaming concussed players for not self-reporting is a ludicrous and weak justification to limit organisational liability for a likely career-ending and entirely preventable tragedy!
The training staff attended him on the ground FFS - it was not missed!
Wake up to yourself!
Exactly my point. If the training staff attended to him on the ground then shouldn’t they have reported it? Why was he allowed to play. Katoa didn’t report it either. If the bunker and doctor only operate during the game, how were they meant to know what happened during the warm up. Katoa and / or the training staff should have followed protocol and reported it.
innsaneink
Well-known member
Katoa isnt a doctor....why should he report it when it was seen and attended to during the warm up.
But it his fault...jesus
But it his fault...jesus
Red88_Tiger
Well-known member
Did any staff actually see it.
When they attended him did he still have symptoms and was a hia conducted.
These are 2 questions I haven’t seen answers to.
I’ve never seen a player not want to play on after a head knock
Makes you wonder if there’s any of his teammates that now think they should of piped up and said something
Enmore_Tiger
Well-known member
And the guy who just had there head smacked is required to make the right decision? With the personal pressures to play?
Wouldn't be accepted by law in any workplace.
Wouldn't be accepted by law in any workplace.
The fact is, the policy that is in place that is advised by the NRL to the clubs every year is that the bunker, the doctor and the HIA are only responsible for reviewing head knocks that occur during a game. The protocols within that policy advise for training sessions, warm ups, or any other incidences, the onus is on the individual, other players (as witnesses), coaches, training staff, or someone from the club / team to report a head knock. You cannot expect the NRL to be monitoring every training session and every warm up of every club with cameras and a doctor throughout an NRL season. It’s entirely impractical and not done by any sports league in the world as far as I am aware. Hence the policy that is in place.
In this case there were plenty of people who knew of Kotoa’s first head knock from the Tongan team and nobody came forward to report it. Perhaps Tonga needing to win and Katoa being a star player had something to do with it (of course it did). The Tonga set up chose winning over safety, contrary to what the policy / protocols required, and that’s why the NRL will be ok and someone (or multiple people) from the Tongan set up will cop the blame for this.
In this case there were plenty of people who knew of Kotoa’s first head knock from the Tongan team and nobody came forward to report it. Perhaps Tonga needing to win and Katoa being a star player had something to do with it (of course it did). The Tonga set up chose winning over safety, contrary to what the policy / protocols required, and that’s why the NRL will be ok and someone (or multiple people) from the Tongan set up will cop the blame for this.
Snidest 0
Well-known member
The Tongan international team is not an NRL club FFS!!
But the Pan-Pacs competition did sit under the ARLC (hence the final in Brisbane while our own national team was in the UK) - so the NRL Commission does have responsibility for oversight of protocols and direct legal liabilty when they fail!
V'landys - Abdo and Kristian Woolf aren't going to be able to use weasel words or a supposed loophole to deny that a paid trainer for the Tongan team attended Katoa in a clearly concussed state on the ground in the warm-ups.
THE COACH decided to use said loophole to not only start him when he was clearly not 100% - but then doubled down after the first on-field head clash (where blind freddy could tell his timing was off due to the pre-match incident).
When he passed his HIA (which he should never have been subjected to given it was his SECOND KNOWN concussive head knock within 30 minutes) - every Foxtel commentator were shocked for good reason! The lack of duty of care was an abomination!
They had another opportunity to re-assess him at halftime - but chose to start him again only for the bleedingly obvious inevitable result of another mistimed tackle...
Any coach worth a pinch of piss would have seen he was off his game - and put 2 + 2 together - before making a decision in the best interests of both the player and team!
I personally doubt Woolf would have blatantly sacrificed a player from Redcliffe like he did Katoa - and if he could not see the player was in distress during the course of the game he should hand in his coaching card!
It is unforgiveable - and the only saving grace is that Woolf and the NRL silks won't be fronting Auckland Coroners Court!
