Sione Mata'utia re-signs with the Knights

If you're talking about 2018 there would be 10 guys in front of Sione playing centre, I think we'll be OK.

Dugan, Hayne, Bird, Walker, Jennings, Roberts, BJ, Mitchell, Fergo at least. Maybe Croker too.

That's not even considering Tom Turbo or Gutherson being shifted there.
 
https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp...ks-over-concussion-fears-20180131-h0rg74.html
Knights management waiting for Sione to prove that he can play some games in a row without getting a concussion before they give him a new contract.
Nice to see we finally have some smart management. Every move Wests make seems to be good.
Also says he should play in the Storm trial.
They also probably will be watching his form in the centres to see what he's worth.
 
krustykraz said:
They also probably will be watching his form in the centres to see what he's worth.
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I'd say that has a fair bit to do with it. Over all they view losing him as being a loss they're willing to cop. And so they're playing the advantage to see if it reveals a more profitable path for the club. Whether that's form, injury or both
 
Spot on Frank. He is just a kid with his whole life in front of him and future health is his and the Club's No. 1 priority.

Hopefully he will shine though back in the centres with no more concussion.
 
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Am I the only one who seen Sione get concussed by a glancing blow to his noggin from a footy ? I don't believe for 1 second the Club has told us the whole story.
 
Jimmy Mac in the last game before his retirement also hit the turf after innocuous contact.

One more early in the season and I don't think Gardiner will be offering a contract at all.
 
I seriously still reckon 12 months off would be best for him, then come back through NSW in short bursts, he really needs to get the fact that he isn't the biggest anymore out of his head. Hearing about him putting on bruising hits at training really worries me. Don't he should go half hearted but that's how most of his concussions happened.
 
Whilst I do agree his welfare must come first and his history does present a safety first approach with managing his future career, I do think that ensuring he is fully recovered and managed back into the game is possible.

I think what Union has done with Bernard Foley is a prime example of somebody who was significantly affected by concussions and had a significant and slow recovery process to get him back into the sport.

He was a regular on the Big Sports Breakfast radio show during his enforced lay off and gave a very detailed and intimate account of how he was progressing through the treatment and recovery phase on an almost weekly basis, highlighting that it was very frustrating to have 6 steps forward and feeling great to suddenly returning to recurring symptoms that would crop up without any rhyme or reason and meaning that he had to give things the appropriate time to heal and mend properly.

But he travelled through last year with no further ill-effects and played pretty much the whole season at the elite level, barring changes related to match performance versus those related to injury/concussion ...so it is possible for Sione to be capable of being back to playing consistently at the elite level again but the management and not rushing the process is critical
 
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He hasn’t played since early September that’s virtually 6 months break


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
slotmachine said:
And Foley only had one...
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Yep Slots....but I think the point of his recovery path was that he wasn't given the all clear until he was completely right.

That didn't really happen with Sione, meaning his issues were compounded by being allowed back to play before he was fully right to play...I think this time, particularly recognising what is going on with Jimmy, the club has developed a recovery regime that has got him fully cleared before resuming his playing career.

I do believe though, like everybody else, that 1 more concussion is likely to spell the end of his career
 
The club is doing the right thing. 1 more concussion early next year will be the end, or at the very least, an even longer rest. But who would sign him?

He is now a bit of a timebomb as who knows how his next concussion is going to affect him. I wish him all the best, and hopefully he can avoid any more concussions. Newcastle better have a much better year next year as if we are well down the table and struggle in games losing the possession battle every game like last few years, he will be put under a lot of defensive pressure.

It's a roll of the dice signing him at all.

As I said, I truly hope he makes it back and continues to play without further issue.
 
He has been medically cleared to play

We know the causes and reasons for why he had repeated concussions in 2017. The club has removed those causes. We can expect to see the prevalence of concussions return to that seen in 2014, 15 & 16
 
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