Lance Hohaia has given an interview to a newspaper in NZ. We need to note for legal reasons that the allegations could be false. The interview is below: m.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/art ... 80&ref=rss St Helens have hit back with a strong statement and denied the allegations: www.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/5791 A few weeks ago it was posted on here about the danger of just one punch and how it was inappropriate for Leeds fans to be cheering and defending Mitch Garbutt after his punch on James Tamou. In light of what Hohaia has gone through with concussion (admittedly, not just related to punching), is it appropriate that the Leeds fans who defended punching will now re-evaluate their opinions? Concussion is VERY serious.

Lance Hohaia has given an interview to a newspaper in NZ. We need to note for legal reasons that the allegations could be false. The interview is below: m.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/art ... 80&ref=rss St Helens have hit back with a strong statement and denied the allegations: www.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/5791 A few weeks ago it was posted on here about the danger of just one punch and how it was inappropriate for Leeds fans to be cheering and defending Mitch Garbutt after his punch on James Tamou. In light of what Hohaia has gone through with concussion (admittedly, not just related to punching), is it appropriate that the Leeds fans who defended punching will now re-evaluate their opinions? Concussion is VERY serious.

Quote ="Pacific"Lance Hohaia has given an interview to a newspaper in NZ. We need to note for legal reasons that the allegations could be false. The interview is below: m.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/art ... 80&ref=rss St Helens have hit back with a strong statement and denied the allegations: www.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/5791 A few weeks ago it was posted on here about the danger of just one punch and how it was inappropriate for Leeds fans to be cheering and defending Mitch Garbutt after his punch on James Tamou. In light of what Hohaia has gone through with concussion (admittedly, not just related to punching), is it appropriate that the Leeds fans who defended punching will now re-evaluate their opinions? Concussion is VERY serious.'" Let me ask you a question, if you were walking down the street with your mate and someone came up and slapped him in the face, and then grabbed hold of you, what would you do ? If you didn't deck him I would class you as one of life's victims.

Quote ="Pacific"Lance Hohaia has given an interview to a newspaper in NZ. We need to note for legal reasons that the allegations could be false. The interview is below: m.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/art ... 80&ref=rss St Helens have hit back with a strong statement and denied the allegations: www.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/5791 A few weeks ago it was posted on here about the danger of just one punch and how it was inappropriate for Leeds fans to be cheering and defending Mitch Garbutt after his punch on James Tamou. In light of what Hohaia has gone through with concussion (admittedly, not just related to punching), is it appropriate that the Leeds fans who defended punching will now re-evaluate their opinions? Concussion is VERY serious.'" Let me ask you a question, if you were walking down the street with your mate and someone came up and slapped him in the face, and then grabbed hold of you, what would you do ? If you didn't deck him I would class you as one of life's victims.

Yeah because getting slapped in the street and getting slapped during a game of Rugby is exactly the same situation.

Quote ="Pacific"Lance Hohaia has given an interview to a newspaper in NZ. We need to note for legal reasons that the allegations could be false. The interview is below: m.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/art ... 80&ref=rss St Helens have hit back with a strong statement and denied the allegations: www.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/5791 A few weeks ago it was posted on here about the danger of just one punch and how it was inappropriate for Leeds fans to be cheering and defending Mitch Garbutt after his punch on James Tamou. In light of what Hohaia has gone through with concussion (admittedly, not just related to punching), is it appropriate that the Leeds fans who defended punching will now re-evaluate their opinions? Concussion is VERY serious.'" Would have thought the title may have been better with flower instead of Garbutt, he had more involvement there. Why not post it on Your own page rather than trolling on here?

Quote ="Pacific"Lance Hohaia has given an interview to a newspaper in NZ. We need to note for legal reasons that the allegations could be false. The interview is below: m.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/art ... 80&ref=rss St Helens have hit back with a strong statement and denied the allegations: www.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/5791 A few weeks ago it was posted on here about the danger of just one punch and how it was inappropriate for Leeds fans to be cheering and defending Mitch Garbutt after his punch on James Tamou. In light of what Hohaia has gone through with concussion (admittedly, not just related to punching), is it appropriate that the Leeds fans who defended punching will now re-evaluate their opinions? Concussion is VERY serious.'" Would have thought the title may have been better with flower instead of Garbutt, he had more involvement there. Why not post it on Your own page rather than trolling on here?

Careful, William will be along crying Bullying in here

I can guarantee you something now, if you slap another man in the face you will be lucky to keep your front teeth irrespective of where you are. The only difference is the punishment you will receive. In the real world, when someone commits common assault upon you or your friend, retribution in the form of a single punch is classed as a reasonable response. It's only in the strange world of Superleague where the antagonist is given such licence to break the law.

On the street the chances are you will see the inside of a Prison Cell. Something which would have been befitting of Ben Flower, whom caused the above trauma.

There are a number of dinosaurs on here, and in the rl fan base in general who harp on about bring back the biff' etc...

These people have no place in modern sport.

However, fans cheering Mitch fall into two camps:
1. Those cheering someone punching another player cos that adds to a great night right.
2. And those cheering a player sticking up for a team mate.
The two things are very different. We should be careful as not all of us see the biff as an important factor in the game.

It's sad that the OP decided to use this issue as a trolling exercise and didn't want to talk properly about the issue of concussion. Hopefully the more grown up posters on here can do so.

I think there's been a small amount of progress made re concussion in RL but it's still a massive issue in my opinion. I still think it's not taken as seriously as it should be. You can often see a player who goes/stays down with a knock to his head that has obviously affected his ability to get up, just have a cursory "examination" by a physio and then allowed to play on. You also see players go off then to come back on again. Was it Turner for Saints who went off last night and came back on again? That can't be right surely?
I'm not just having a go at Saints, I was both suprised and disappointed when Falloon came back on in the Boxing Day game v Wakefield. And I wonder if had Delaney not been so obviously unsteady on his legs yesterday as to whether he'd have come back on.

I think people often underestimate just how many knocks to the head players receive. If that article on Hohaia is correct then I think him having his nose broken 7 times in a season shows how often they get hit. Halfbacks probably being a bit more vulnerable?
If it's true about Saints attitude toward him then that's disappointing and if it's true about Huddersfield deliberately aiming to hit him in the head then that's appalling.

It shows we need an attitude change in RL and not just the platitudes given out by clubs CEO's or media departments. Partly players are probably going to have to start flagging up the issue themselves more. Possibly where the apparent lack of a powerful players union has an effect?

My initial thought on the Turner sub last night was that they were playing the system for an extra interchange - my gut feel in front of me was that there was a considerable amount of time between the physio looking at him, playing on, then going off.

I'd hate that to be true and fully hope any team wouldn't abuse the concussion protocol.

Equally it's also possible he passed the quack physio test and a doctor told him to get off.

Quote ="Pacific"Lance Hohaia has given an interview to a newspaper in NZ. We need to note for legal reasons that the allegations could be false. The interview is below: m.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/art ... 80&ref=rss St Helens have hit back with a strong statement and denied the allegations: www.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/5791 A few weeks ago it was posted on here about the danger of just one punch and how it was inappropriate for Leeds fans to be cheering and defending Mitch Garbutt after his punch on James Tamou. In light of what Hohaia has gone through with concussion (admittedly, not just related to punching), is it appropriate that the Leeds fans who defended punching will now re-evaluate their opinions? Concussion is VERY serious.'" Well its not just punching that causes concussion is it? Why don't you worry about Bateman, Mclorum, SO'L, Farrell, and Tompkins (lesser) who throw shots that purposefully bounce up from the chest into the face, that could do just as much damage if not more

Quote ="Pacific"Lance Hohaia has given an interview to a newspaper in NZ. We need to note for legal reasons that the allegations could be false. The interview is below: m.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/art ... 80&ref=rss St Helens have hit back with a strong statement and denied the allegations: www.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/5791 A few weeks ago it was posted on here about the danger of just one punch and how it was inappropriate for Leeds fans to be cheering and defending Mitch Garbutt after his punch on James Tamou. In light of what Hohaia has gone through with concussion (admittedly, not just related to punching), is it appropriate that the Leeds fans who defended punching will now re-evaluate their opinions? Concussion is VERY serious.'" Well its not just punching that causes concussion is it? Why don't you worry about Bateman, Mclorum, SO'L, Farrell, and Tompkins (lesser) who throw shots that purposefully bounce up from the chest into the face, that could do just as much damage if not more

Just to throw a snake in the bag... but was it Flowers punches that caused Hohaia's ongoing concussion problems or was that simply the tipping point?

Did Flower do Hohaia a favour in bringing to the forefront an underlying concussion problem? Hohaia had his nose broken six times in 2014, by definition this means his head must have received many serious and consecutive traumas prior to Flowers despicable and cowardly actions.

It is impossible to say that Flower's action caused Hohaia's problems, they may have had a massive contributory factor but it is doubtful that they were solely responsible for his ongoing 'concussion like' problems prior to the 2014 GF. After playing top level RL for 14 years Hohaia head must have take some serious abuse.

JP once likened a RL game to getting hit by a small car doing 30mph 20 or 30 times per game. My point being that RL may have an accumulative effect on the brain and, although it was the Flower punch that Hohaia claims ended his career, it could have quite easily been a stray elbow or knee in a tackle that would have done the same.

Every time you see that Flower incident it gets more and more sickening. How anyone is dumb enough to compare that incident with anything seen in the last couple of decades, I do not know. How he only got six months for that is really bad.

Did he cause the problems? Probably not considering the point made above about previous head injuries. But did he make the situation much worse? Obviously so considering the players statement of events. Flower is a disgrace to our game, and for a club like Wigan to support him, really is a low.

If you want to compare Ben Flower's FIRST punch to Garbutt's on Tamou then go ahead. If you want to compare the SECOND punch to anything else that has happened on a Rugby field over the last decade, then you're an idiot, and have probably taken one too many to the head yourself.

Aside from all the usual outrage here drenched in anti-Wigan sentiment from the usual boneheaded suspects, the issue is no longer about Wigan or Flower or that incident. It is about the events which took place afterwards.

Following the incident, did the employer (St Helens) follow proper procedure in terms of risk assessment with specific regard to the future health of their employee (Hohaia) post Grand Final incident? As his employer, they legally have a duty of care towards him. If they neglected to provide any risk assessment and duty of care, that is negligence, in which case Hohaia has a case against them.

Hohaia claims in the article that St Helens gave him painkillers and insisted he played. If he wasn't happy with such a fait accompli, he can walk away from the club and his contract terminated (which is in fact what happened, without compensation). If that is the case, St Helens could be deep in the smelly brown stuff if Hohaia were to proceed with a case against them.

Their response to the Hohaia article in the NZ Herald yesterday was rather irresponsible and tetchy, to say the least.

I can envisage legal proceedings from this situation . It may even end up with a claim against saints or even Wigan.

I could see a claim against saints and even flower or the man himself, but can't see how anyone could make a claim against Wigan unless I am missing something

Probably the same idiots who say that it was Hohaia's fault what happened to him in the GF.

There are some Warrington fans on their forum saying things not too dissimilar.

I know, I've seen some Leeds fans say similar in the past also. All ridiculous.

The claim against flower would be covered by the Wigan clubs insurance. So ultimately the Wigan club would be involved.
Potentially he would claim for loss of earnings , stress as a result of the assault and future health problems.
Proving these factors is a different matter entirely . In the USA there are a number of similar actions being instigated in the nfl for head trauma injuries.

Agree with this analysis. IMO it is only a matter of time before a precedent is set with a big compensation case relating to concussion and duty of care by clubs in SL.

Yes it will happen and I suspect sooner rather than later.

Probably in American Football first, or possibly a player in the NRL.

Given the knee-jerk response from St Helens yesterday, it just might be SL having to deal with the fallout.

Already happened in the NFL mate. The NFL spent years denying any causal link between the sport and concussions (see new Will Smith movie, Concussion). Then they eventually reached a settlement of almost $1 billion with the NFL Players association. That settlement is on hold as a handful of players are unhappy with it and are pushing the matter to the Supreme Court.

Oh, and regardless of legal rights Hohia is a grub and whilst he may not have deserved it he was certainly the architect of his own misfortune.

I wasn't aware the legal process had progressed that far in American Football. I think the key point which many forget is that employers have a duty of care towards their employees as well as providing a safe working environment. This is where it gets tricky in contact sports. How do you provide a safe working environment? I guess they can only be made safer.

Often in sport, we've seen cases of career-ending injuries legally dealt with on an individual basis. In other words, injured party A sues individual B responsible for injury. The sports governing bodies and their clubs themselves (employers) have been getting away with it for far too long. It's time they took more responsibility.