Gutted that Rich is out we always look a better team with him in it. Will be a big miss come playoff time.

Big blow not only for the team and the Faithful but for Rich himself some awesome performances this season, but to be fair if we win a playoff game I'll be more than happy...! It's not as tho were going to win GF this year..! giving Rich the time to get mended properly no rushing and with a full pre-season under his belt I'm more than confident he will come back better next term.! With a full team around him Who knows..! Thats the positive i can come up with ..! Gutted tho, totally gutted.....

Surely having a medical team with greater understanding of modern technologies/remedies with regard to sports injuries is beneficial if it can get players healed quicker and with regard to long term outcome/well being of a player.
Having seen the expertise & attention to injury avoidance/treatment in the NFL, RL sports science and medical care is like being in the dark ages.
However human shiatsu is a great way of finding underlying problems & treating symptoms that modern medicine still cannot do as effectively in some cases.

Maybe someone can explain to myself why we get these injuries that were unheard of in times gone by.
I personally have had three anterior cruciate ligament replacements and five or six other ops on the same knee through playing sports all the time so I have a good idea how they happened.
When we had players training twice a week after work and maybe slotting an extra game in in midweek we very rarely had long term injuries.
I certainly never heard of a player being out for six months.
It just never happened.
Now with all the aids readily available we have a never ending conveyor of players missing for weeks and months on end. Why is this?
Are the players too fit?
Does the body by not carrying the little bit of excess not have the facility to cope with impact and bruising? Are the muscles so finely taut that they tear at the slightest of over stretching? Hamstring tears are so prevalent, Calderwood for instance, that it must be the case or do I have that wrong?
Sports science seems to have a long way to go by all accounts!

I think it is more to do with the bigger impacts you get with two teams of highly toned athletes.

Heavier forwards, with increased speeds you have greater forces involved.
Lack of a proper scrum has meant the ball spends more time in actual play so greater intensity over longer sustained periods. with that you are increasing the chances of random injuries. On top of all that you also see the wrestling tackles prevalent in the game which often are around the neck area, arms & legs being twisted with great force.
There's also pressure on players to play through minor tweeks which can end up being a bigger problem further down the line