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The worrying stat highlighting the NRL's concussion problem
SEN •  December 9th, 2025 11:55 am
A damming poll from the Rugby League Player Association has shown a worrying increase amongst players not reporting concussions or concussion symptoms from training.
In the poll conducted by the association it found that 60% of male players continued to train after a suspected concussion during training. At the same time, one in three did not report concussion symptoms during training.
These results, alongside the investigation into Eli Katoa's multiple concussions, seeing four Tongan XIII medical staff members receive breach notices, have created a renewed focus on the lack of encouragement for players to report these incidents.
Following this poll, RLPA CEO Clint Newton admitted that he is worried by this stat, having increased from 16% of NRL players not reporting a concussion during training in 2024 (14% increase).
"The concussion data from our players is incredibly concerning, particularly because it has worsened year on year," he said.
"We can point to various reasons for this, but based on these recent results, you can make a strong case that we are still not empowering players enough.
"It will remain a damaging blind spot for the safety of our players and the game more broadly if we don't make necessary improvements."
Potential improvements to help reduce the amount of unreported concussions have been offered.
One of these improvements that has started to garner support following the Katoa incident includes having the already present independent doctors who look for concussion incidents during the match to do the same for warm-ups.
The NRL has yet to come out and announce whether it will make changes to its concussion protocol.
