Prophecy that ‘doctors and lawyers’ will rule NRL is coming true

You can’t help but wonder, though, if Gould envisioned his own club, the Bulldogs, being at the heart of the most significant lawsuit concerning player welfare in the game’s history.

Gun back-rower Jackson Topine has launched a $4 million suit against the club and head trainer Travis Touma after he was allegedly forced to wrestle as many as 35 teammates individually for about four-and-a-half minutes as punishment for being late last season.

On Friday, NSW deputy coroner Derek Lee delivered his findings into the death of young Manly forward Keith Titmuss, who died of heatstroke following a pre-season wrestling session in 2020.

Lee said the practice was “more likely than not inappropriate” and recommended the governing body mandate a two-week acclimatisation period when players return from the off-season.

Two days before the hearing, another former Sea Eagle, Lloyd Perrett, revealed he was taking legal action against his former club after suffering a seizure during pre-season training in 2017 during which he was allegedly denied water.

“At one stage, I went to see Phil Gould – he wanted me at Penrith – I told him what happened to me at Manly and he shook his head in disgust,” Perrett told Wide World of Sports.

In the case of Topine and Perrett, the courts will decide if Canterbury and Manly have been negligent in their responsibilities to the player.

In the case of Titmuss, the courts already have.

“The NRL has already commenced work on the coroner’s recommendations and will commission experts to further review our policies and update them to ensure best practice,” NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said on Monday.

Nevertheless, at the very minimum, the three incidents should give the governing body and RLPA reason to pause and look closely at the training practices of the 17 clubs.

Professional sporting teams are very different workplaces to most, which is understandable because the employees perform very different work to the rest of us.

There’s a fine line between discipline and humiliation. And an even finer line between pushing an athlete to his or her physical and mental extremes, and pushing them beyond it.

They do this in the pursuit of success. As more than one former player will tell you: “Elite sport is not for everyone.”

No, it is not. But that doesn’t mean clubs can operate outside ethical and legal boundaries. It’s a unique workplace, but it’s still a workplace.

Players should be challenged but feel safe. Their families should never wonder if their son or daughter is going to come home from training.

They should never experience what the Titmuss family has endured in the last four years.

Wild commentary on these matters blurs the lines further.

Since the Topine story broke last year, and especially since news of his lawsuit came to light last month, a platoon of former Bulldogs players has staunchly defended the club while others have stood up for Touma.

“It’s f---ing soft as shit,” former Bulldogs forward Willie Mason said on a Levels Network podcast. “If you can’t deal with it, you’re not going to be f---ing there. Because there’s high standards at the club, regardless of what’s happening right now with where we’re coming on the ladder.”

The Bulldogs, after briefing their lawyers, are confident they haven’t done anything wrong. Topine’s lawyers insist this isn’t an ambit claim.

Unless a settlement is made on the steps of the Supreme Court, expect a conga line of Bulldogs players who took part in the wrestling punishment that day to appear in the witness box.

I don’t envy them the prospect of being pulled between their loyalty to their club and their former teammate. You can never go wrong telling the truth.

Then again, everyone’s truth is different. A couple of players who were present that day tell you they thought the session went too far. I’ve been told by one that the room had fallen silent by the end of the punishment, although others present say that’s not how they remember it.

Some coaches at other clubs are surprised that the wrestling punishment went for so long. Others say that’s nothing in comparison to what happens in actual wrestling sessions.

Further, the NRL has confirmed the Integrity Unit wanted to interview Topine about what had happened at the training session, but he declined. He did, however, take up their offer of mental health support.

Meanwhile, the characterisation of Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo as a barbaric authoritarian doesn’t line up with how others see him.

At Penrith, he was known for the empathy he showed towards players, particularly those from Pasifika families. He was the club’s welfare officer in 2014 before coaching their under-20s team.

As an assistant coach for the NRL team, he was more likely to deliver praise than admonishment in video sessions.

Bulldogs hooker Reed Mahoney gave the impression after his side’s 24-14 win against the Wests Tigers on Saturday that Belmore wasn’t the house of torture it’s been painted as.

“I love going into training every day,” he told Fox Sports. “Love going in every day, trying to be better: better player, better person. Everyone’s just so committed to doing the same thing every day. When you’ve got a bunch of boys who are super-committed, it makes the place fun.”

The NRL says it takes training in both pre-season and during the year seriously.

Professor Ollie Jay from the University of Sydney and Dr Douglas Casa from the Korey Stringer Institute are currently working on the NRL’s heat policy.

The curiously titled “workload and balance committee” provides recommendations on the length of player leave during the off-season, the optimal duration required for the physical preparation of players throughout the pre-season, and the minimum standards required for international squads.

Mandatory leave is determined by age. Younger, more inexperienced players are afforded a shorter leave period to allow clubs a longer preparation period, effectively enabling them to ease into the training program.

GPS and mandatory video recordings of every all field training and wrestling sessions – regardless of the intensity of those sessions - are supposed to happen at every club. Teams are required to appoint a “head injury spotter” for all training sessions that involve collisions or contact, including relevant field and wrestle sessions.

So the belief that the game does “nothing” isn’t true. Changing culture at clubs, however, is hard to do.

Doubtless, former players will roll their eyes over this stuff and point out how it was different in their day. And it was.

When Broncos halfback Adam Reynolds ruptured his biceps on Friday night, a former player from another era fired off a text message.

“Please, they strapped me up and sent me back out to finish the game,” he said. “Told me I didn’t need it [his biceps] and to finish the season.”

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