I saw the programme. Incredibly sad for Stevie at his age, and with the immense talent he had. The condition is clearly incredibly debilitating, and I hope he makes a swift recovery.
On you post, I don't think making the sport safer and stopping 'the biff' should be mutually exclusive. If I were a pro player my brain is what I would be most concerned about post-playing rather than the routine, albeit serious, injuries players often incur.
I think the sport is not doing enough to stop high tackles, and the punishments are far too weak for high tackles. RU is far ahead in this area (I know people don't like the common red cards for high shots), but they have lowered where contact is allowed and it has lead to a more open game with more offloading.
We're currently a bit too obsessed with the wrestle in RL, and tackling players around their arms/shoulder height. The RFL need to get with the programme and ensure there's no hits above shoulder height at all, and liaise with coaches over changing techniques pre-season. I would say any contact where a tacklers shoulders are higher than the ball players shoulders should be deemed high.
Just to add, I'm well in favour of bringing back the shoulder charge, as long as it's not high contact. The intense physicality of the sport is what players and fans both sign up for, so that doesn't have to end. I worry that with the lawsuits coming in, if the RFL don't take the bull by the horns it could be the end of pro-RL.
