In a significant development in the battle against brain injury in sport, teams from the National Rugby League (NRL) and the National Rugby League for Women (NRLW) are now required to restrict the amount of body contact during training sessions.
While the policy has been broadly described as a way to reduce exposure to all injuries, it is clearly targeted at reducing concussion and repetitive brain trauma.
This is the first official contact training limit by an Australian contact sport governing body. It shows that despite decades of rule changes, research and claimed advances in player safety, brain trauma remains a central concern for sport organisations.
