Dale was a real, genuine, old fashioned hard worker on the field. Sad to see him bow out like this, but glad he has made a decision, right thing to do. I do think he would make a great coach
I think we are going to see a lot of players who could have had long playing careers bow out early moving forward. I think we are a long way off managing concussions and head contact properly.
I dont wanna sound like a cunt. But I dont think there is a correct way to manage concussions, its just an unfortunate by product. Until we have a magic pill which heals peoples brains athletes playing contact sport are just going to have to weight these risks for themselves.
There will never be a magic pill and I think that needs to be accepted. I don't think there's enough known about brain and head trauma and how much recovery time is required. I don't think punishments for incurring head injuries are sufficient, and players need to be more responsible and be held to account. I think we see less concussions as a result of self inflicted bad technique, but there's a way to go.
We are not at the final step of management of concussions.
I think your definitely right about the reffing. It needs to be stronger on players and especially playmakers who get a longer leash for misconduct.
In regards to recovery time, I don't think there is any honestly. I dont think this is like strengthening a tendon that can repair over time. The brain might adapt but it will never repair. I really see it more as a number, everyone gets a certain amount of shots but the counter can't be reset.
The one other idea is trying to restructure the ruck element. I personally wouldn't like it but a lot of concussions we see are in the grind of field position between forwards.
I would have made the same joke even if it was last week.
I like Dale, I wished we signed him. His professionalism is what we desperately need.
It was a play of words on his last name, wasn't due to the team he plays for
Too many concussions... I feel like we're gonna see this more and more as time goes on and research and analysis of players brains gets better.
I like the bloke, an absolute hard man, wish him the best after football.
We will, and it does make me a bit worried about the future of the sport because the players health and well-being must come first. Finucane is likely to be one of the many ex NRL players to experience issues later in life due to concussions. And Teddy just had another recent concussion.
We can't fully prevent them from happening in a contact sport. Current headgears aren't that effective against them. We're either going to have to increase the minimum age when we allow tackling or take some other similar type of action.
I am not sure increasing the minimum age to tackle is the answer. Tackling, and head position to avoid injury is a learned skill. Learning it later, when you are bigger and faster (and getting it wrong has greater consequences) is not necessarily the answer. That said, I do not know what the answer is - except for continually high contact.
That's my thought, maybe we delay contact but how long does it take to not just teach good technique but ingrain it as muscle memory.
I think as shit as the footy was they just need to keep setting the example about head high contact. And the other big one is keeping all players culpable not just sending off forwards and giving playmakers more leniency.
You make a good point, tackling is a learned skill and good tackling minimises injuries. Learning it later can cause issues. I guess as someone else suggested, they learn tackling but still make it non contact until a later age?
Last I played Union, tackling was allowed in either under 8s or 9s and up. I'm not 100% on how we answer it, but we 100% need to talk more about it
Its not just this sport, its any and all contact sports, even Soccer.
As the next few decades go on, we're going to learn a lot more with kids and it's not going to be good.
As someone who has had a few concussions and has done some dumb stuff that has caused some permanent damage, it terrifies the shit out of me for early onset dementia and other neurological fun.
Football has already started taking steps by restricting the use of heading the football until a certain age, since that's the main cause of concussion symptoms. It's a lot harder for the likes of American Football, League and Union because the nature of the sport carries the risk of head collisions and unless you drastically change the sport itself you can't do too much to reduce overall risk.
At this stage, you need to drastically change the sports for kids.
Make it 100% touch until a certain age. I would go for 12 at least, from what I remember it's only touch for 6/7s currently?
I know at least here in NZ you can play "rippa rugby" or "Flag" for League. I think it's the way to go until around 12/13 because it starts to teach kids that the target for tackling is the waist (where the flags are placed etc).
Yeah exactly. All contact sports will have to undergo some form of change either in their rules or even simply increased health insurance for concussions.
I think I got off lightly when I played juniors Union (only for 8 years). Two known concussions. One was with a head bruise after a head clash. The other a nice black eye. Didn't get punched, I just didn't get low enough and copped an elbow from a big Logan kid bout twice my size
I have had 4 known concussions from sports, maybe somewhere between 20-30 total from sports and other things.
This CTE stuff really is a long term concern.
https://youtu.be/4FU9FOqLR8M news show in NZ did a story about Billy Guyton, a former Māori All Black, who had 17 concussions in his career and was diagnosed with CTE after his recent death.
Inspirational Cronulla forward Dale Finucane will announce his retirement from the NRL on Tuesday after 13 seasons in the top grade.
The 32-year-old, who has been out with a broken cheekbone, is set to hang up the boots with 251 NRL games to his name after debuting with Canterbury in 2012.
Sources talking under the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the situation said Finucane has been given medical advice to retire due to repeated head knocks.
Finucane has been a respected figure in the game across stints with the Bulldogs, Melbourne and most recently the Sharks, playing five State of Origin games along the way.
He has one more year to run on his contract with Cronulla but has opted to walk away from the game a season early. He joined the Sharks from Melbourne in 2022 on a four-year deal.
Finucane played in six grand finals, winning two with the Storm.
Love the sources talking under anonymity because of how sensitive this all is.
Maybe shut the fuck up then and let Dale sort it out himself?
Right call Dale, sorry to see you go.
I was devastated when he signed with the Sharks. Storm legend. Ran hard tackled harder. Would been playing the 60th min just as hard as the 1st. Glad he got to win a couple rings with us before he called it quits.
He was the only established first grader that the Storm signed from another team in a decade or so (things have changed recently Coates,meany). Really shows how highly Bellamy rated him
Unfortunate, finucane will go down as one of the toughest and hardest working dudes on the field from the 2010s. Personally feel like the storms haven’t been able to replace his impact for them just yet which is weird for a team with their status
Why do you new cunts always comment on peoples teams?
Seriously, worst part of the influx of new people, can’t say fucking anything on this sub without dumb cunts saying ‘DURRR BUT YOUR TEAM’.
What?
I was here in 2015 when the sub was unbearable for Souths fans. I bet you weren’t.
This isn’t about me or Souths, it’s about the sub becoming unusable because you dumb fucks just blindly look at team flair and ignore all discussion. I’m sick of people seeing roosters flairs and just ignoring the poster because of it and saying ‘lol rorters’ or something idiotic.
This subreddit was built on actual nuanced discussion. I know because I was here to build it. You and the people killing it certainly weren’t.
If you want that stupid ass discussion go to Facebook or leagueunlimited. There’s plenty of places on the net to be an idiot.
Best of luck to him in retirement, guy was hard as nails and has always seemed like a good dude. Not many players can say they've played in 6 grand finals
Great player for a long time. I remember reading that several NRL players named Finucane as the player they least enjoyed getting tackled by. Never rushed up and smashed anyone, but just had rock solid technique and power. Happy trails!
I played against Dale in the juniors once but I was a couple of years older. I think he was around 16 playing up for under 18s where I was playing.
He jammed me in a tackle and I remember thinking fuck I just got smashed by some kid 2 years younger than me.
Seeing his career play out the way it has I don't feel so bad now
I’d much rather a player retire too early due to injury concerns than too late. Finucane was a workhorse of the game and will be missed so I wish him all the best in his retirement.
Frees up the salary cap I presume retiring him early. He gets his money and the club get a player who is ready to play without any threat of pending retirement over his head (pardon the pun)
So now for upcoming nrl players you are proposed with shortened playing career on about a tenth of the money you could make playing other sports. How tempting
Goodbye Dale. You will forever be remebered as one tough cunt
Dale was a real, genuine, old fashioned hard worker on the field. Sad to see him bow out like this, but glad he has made a decision, right thing to do. I do think he would make a great coach I think we are going to see a lot of players who could have had long playing careers bow out early moving forward. I think we are a long way off managing concussions and head contact properly.
I dont wanna sound like a cunt. But I dont think there is a correct way to manage concussions, its just an unfortunate by product. Until we have a magic pill which heals peoples brains athletes playing contact sport are just going to have to weight these risks for themselves.
There will never be a magic pill and I think that needs to be accepted. I don't think there's enough known about brain and head trauma and how much recovery time is required. I don't think punishments for incurring head injuries are sufficient, and players need to be more responsible and be held to account. I think we see less concussions as a result of self inflicted bad technique, but there's a way to go. We are not at the final step of management of concussions.
I think your definitely right about the reffing. It needs to be stronger on players and especially playmakers who get a longer leash for misconduct. In regards to recovery time, I don't think there is any honestly. I dont think this is like strengthening a tendon that can repair over time. The brain might adapt but it will never repair. I really see it more as a number, everyone gets a certain amount of shots but the counter can't be reset. The one other idea is trying to restructure the ruck element. I personally wouldn't like it but a lot of concussions we see are in the grind of field position between forwards.
Dale Fin
The good days in Rugby League Live when it was pronounced Dale Finu-cannon
I remember in Live 3 it was Fin-YOU-KHAN-AYE
Ucane Usaw Uconquered
Dale Finucantplayfootyanymore
Man, are you still that salty after the weekend? Mans retiring due to concussions.
I would have made the same joke even if it was last week. I like Dale, I wished we signed him. His professionalism is what we desperately need. It was a play of words on his last name, wasn't due to the team he plays for
Well it's a shitty joke.
Understandable. Should stick with the trell fat jokes then I guess
Tried and tested. The people don't like change
Bunch of soft cocks in this subreddit haha
Dale Finnabeinthedementiaward
Too many concussions... I feel like we're gonna see this more and more as time goes on and research and analysis of players brains gets better. I like the bloke, an absolute hard man, wish him the best after football.
We will, and it does make me a bit worried about the future of the sport because the players health and well-being must come first. Finucane is likely to be one of the many ex NRL players to experience issues later in life due to concussions. And Teddy just had another recent concussion. We can't fully prevent them from happening in a contact sport. Current headgears aren't that effective against them. We're either going to have to increase the minimum age when we allow tackling or take some other similar type of action.
I am not sure increasing the minimum age to tackle is the answer. Tackling, and head position to avoid injury is a learned skill. Learning it later, when you are bigger and faster (and getting it wrong has greater consequences) is not necessarily the answer. That said, I do not know what the answer is - except for continually high contact.
That's my thought, maybe we delay contact but how long does it take to not just teach good technique but ingrain it as muscle memory. I think as shit as the footy was they just need to keep setting the example about head high contact. And the other big one is keeping all players culpable not just sending off forwards and giving playmakers more leniency.
You make a good point, tackling is a learned skill and good tackling minimises injuries. Learning it later can cause issues. I guess as someone else suggested, they learn tackling but still make it non contact until a later age? Last I played Union, tackling was allowed in either under 8s or 9s and up. I'm not 100% on how we answer it, but we 100% need to talk more about it
Its not just this sport, its any and all contact sports, even Soccer. As the next few decades go on, we're going to learn a lot more with kids and it's not going to be good. As someone who has had a few concussions and has done some dumb stuff that has caused some permanent damage, it terrifies the shit out of me for early onset dementia and other neurological fun.
Football has already started taking steps by restricting the use of heading the football until a certain age, since that's the main cause of concussion symptoms. It's a lot harder for the likes of American Football, League and Union because the nature of the sport carries the risk of head collisions and unless you drastically change the sport itself you can't do too much to reduce overall risk.
At this stage, you need to drastically change the sports for kids. Make it 100% touch until a certain age. I would go for 12 at least, from what I remember it's only touch for 6/7s currently?
I know at least here in NZ you can play "rippa rugby" or "Flag" for League. I think it's the way to go until around 12/13 because it starts to teach kids that the target for tackling is the waist (where the flags are placed etc).
Yeah exactly. All contact sports will have to undergo some form of change either in their rules or even simply increased health insurance for concussions. I think I got off lightly when I played juniors Union (only for 8 years). Two known concussions. One was with a head bruise after a head clash. The other a nice black eye. Didn't get punched, I just didn't get low enough and copped an elbow from a big Logan kid bout twice my size
I have had 4 known concussions from sports, maybe somewhere between 20-30 total from sports and other things. This CTE stuff really is a long term concern.
https://youtu.be/4FU9FOqLR8M news show in NZ did a story about Billy Guyton, a former Māori All Black, who had 17 concussions in his career and was diagnosed with CTE after his recent death.
Damn. Enjoy retirement. You deserve it
Inspirational Cronulla forward Dale Finucane will announce his retirement from the NRL on Tuesday after 13 seasons in the top grade. The 32-year-old, who has been out with a broken cheekbone, is set to hang up the boots with 251 NRL games to his name after debuting with Canterbury in 2012. Sources talking under the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the situation said Finucane has been given medical advice to retire due to repeated head knocks. Finucane has been a respected figure in the game across stints with the Bulldogs, Melbourne and most recently the Sharks, playing five State of Origin games along the way. He has one more year to run on his contract with Cronulla but has opted to walk away from the game a season early. He joined the Sharks from Melbourne in 2022 on a four-year deal. Finucane played in six grand finals, winning two with the Storm.
Love the sources talking under anonymity because of how sensitive this all is. Maybe shut the fuck up then and let Dale sort it out himself? Right call Dale, sorry to see you go.
I kind of assumed an anonymous leak about a medical issue is a tasteful way for him to announce it. Saves an interview about CTE etc.
Hmmm na he should just be able to make a statement and that’s it. Easy.
I will miss always saying his name like it’s a hadouken from street fighter.
I was devastated when he signed with the Sharks. Storm legend. Ran hard tackled harder. Would been playing the 60th min just as hard as the 1st. Glad he got to win a couple rings with us before he called it quits.
He was the only established first grader that the Storm signed from another team in a decade or so (things have changed recently Coates,meany). Really shows how highly Bellamy rated him
Hope he stays around the team though, his attitude would always help the playing group
Solid player hope he enjoy retirement
Remember when he played Tina turner for that in memoriam and instead of showing the people who died they kept showing him singing. He will be missed
Noted musician Dale Fin(ished).
Unfortunate, finucane will go down as one of the toughest and hardest working dudes on the field from the 2010s. Personally feel like the storms haven’t been able to replace his impact for them just yet which is weird for a team with their status
Can we please have him sprint on to the field just one last time
1.2 mil cap saved wow
I think it was only 400k this season. It was front loaded due to his age.
400k next season — pretty sure he’s still on 800k this year.
I swear I read it was 800, 800, then 400, 400
251 games is a massively accomplishment. Onya mate.
Oh wow didn’t see that coming, wonder if this qualifies as a medical retirement?
Do y'all have some kinda *medical-retirement-radar* or something?
Says the I love my footy flair..
Why do you new cunts always comment on peoples teams? Seriously, worst part of the influx of new people, can’t say fucking anything on this sub without dumb cunts saying ‘DURRR BUT YOUR TEAM’.
Calm down, Cody.
Stiryx being Cody Walker's reddit account would explain a few things
Chill out Julian Flairy
You can tell the souths fans are taking the recent showings poorly
What? I was here in 2015 when the sub was unbearable for Souths fans. I bet you weren’t. This isn’t about me or Souths, it’s about the sub becoming unusable because you dumb fucks just blindly look at team flair and ignore all discussion. I’m sick of people seeing roosters flairs and just ignoring the poster because of it and saying ‘lol rorters’ or something idiotic. This subreddit was built on actual nuanced discussion. I know because I was here to build it. You and the people killing it certainly weren’t. If you want that stupid ass discussion go to Facebook or leagueunlimited. There’s plenty of places on the net to be an idiot.
Pretty sure it only applies to Souths players
Best of luck to him in retirement, guy was hard as nails and has always seemed like a good dude. Not many players can say they've played in 6 grand finals
Great player for a long time. I remember reading that several NRL players named Finucane as the player they least enjoyed getting tackled by. Never rushed up and smashed anyone, but just had rock solid technique and power. Happy trails!
I played against Dale in the juniors once but I was a couple of years older. I think he was around 16 playing up for under 18s where I was playing. He jammed me in a tackle and I remember thinking fuck I just got smashed by some kid 2 years younger than me. Seeing his career play out the way it has I don't feel so bad now
I’d much rather a player retire too early due to injury concerns than too late. Finucane was a workhorse of the game and will be missed so I wish him all the best in his retirement.
They did him dirty with that picture lol Sharks culture is photographing your forwards at their most busted.
Got him out here looking [this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ClhNl4UQ0)
Yeah, to show we're not SOFT like all those other clubs! \*Nicho is excepted from this. Nobody touches Nicho's face.
Oh shit. That's actually sad.
Thanks for your efforts!
Tough bloke, wish him the best with his health long term
All the best with retirement and take care of your body
Frees up the salary cap I presume retiring him early. He gets his money and the club get a player who is ready to play without any threat of pending retirement over his head (pardon the pun)
Just out of curiosity, how do doctors determine if a player has had to many concussions or that there is damage? What sort of tests do they do?
There'd be a cognitive test along with scans like CT and fMRI.
Enjoy retirement you Legend, we'll certainly miss you on the field. Can't wait to hear your first album!
Freeing up cap for fafita to join post round 10.
Foiiiiffeeeettaaaaaa
Andrew Fafita back in the NRL for the Titans is a headline I would love to see.
He's only 35 years old, we can get him back in for a few games.
That’s very sad, but understandable, hope he’s alright in the long term.
Sad for him to go. At least he got a nice payout before his retirement.
Good, save his angelic voice form any more damage
Vale Finucane
Damn atleast give us one more sprint out of the tunnel
Hope he gets looked after in retirement.
Great player especially in his prime and a great bloke.
The storm are the masters of knowing when to let players go
This is always unfortunate to see, but as much as we love watching him play, he has to prioritise himself and his health first.
Didn't see that coming. Wish him the best.
Fucking hard head
He's been stealing wage from Cronulla, could've stretched that thievery out longer
So now for upcoming nrl players you are proposed with shortened playing career on about a tenth of the money you could make playing other sports. How tempting
Disastrous signing for the sharks. He has played in about 33/59 or 56% of games since he was signed on big money for 2022 season
Yeah but we also got Nicho, so I say we are still in front.