Is the NRL at a crossroads? Where old school thinking meets the modern world?
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Some will have you believe the very fabric of the game is being torn apart due to the ever-increasing threat of concussion.
Now there's also questions over traditional training methods where players were expected to run through metaphorical walls for their club.
But that's all been called into question in recent weeks, potentially forcing coaches, medical staff and players to have to start tip-toeing through a veritable minefield of modern issues.
One debate centres around whether the kick-off return needs to be banned to reduce the risk of concussion, as the feared threat of legal action continues to simmer in the background.
This has the old brigade screaming that it will destroy one of the iconic moments of the game.
South Sydney great Sam Burgess's kick-off return at the very start of the 2014 NRL Grand Final has gone down folklore after he broke his cheekbone in a head clash with fellow Englishman James Graham.
Burgess played out the game as the Rabbitohs went on to end a 43-year premiership drought.
It's argued these moments will be lost if the kick-off return follows things like the shoulder charge out the door.
Alternatively, it's seen as a needlessly dangerous part of the game that should be changed to make it safer as more and more is known about the terrible side effects of concussions - such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
The other debate has training methods in the spotlight after NSW deputy state coroner Derek Lee found on Friday the death of Manly player Keith Titmuss was due to a training session that was "more likely than not inappropriate".
Titmuss, 20, suffered a seizure after a tough indoor training session during pre-season at the end of 2020.
One of the paramedics who treated him said his temperature was 41.9 degrees - the highest they'd ever seen.
He was taken to hospital, but died after suffering a cardiac arrest - with the coroner finding the cause was exertion heat stroke.
The coroner said Manly staff and paramedics had reacted appropriately when treating Titmuss after he'd collapsed.
Lee listed a number of recommendations for the NRL and its clubs to follow.
They included urging the NRL to review their heat policy, which they've already begun, and mandating a two-week acclimatisation period when players return from off-season or extended breaks.
It should also consider screening and classifying players at risk of heat stress, while compiling a database of related incidents.
Manly chief executive Tony Mestrov has committed to implementing the recommendations.
"This can't happen again in the game, we all understand that," he said on Friday.
"And we don't want it to happen under Manly's watch ever again."
It comes after former Canterbury Bulldog Jackson Topine started a $4 million lawsuit for being forced to wrestle 30-35 teammates in a row.
Another former Manly player, Lloyd Perrett, has started legal action against the Sea Eagles after he collapsed at training and woke up in hospital in 2017.
Both of those, combined with the coroner's rulings, put training methods under a similar spotlight to concussion.
In all three cases the players have taken on the mythical wall, with one resulting in tragic consequences.
But, in the other two incidents, the players have since complained about how they were treated - something which potentially sets the modern player apart from their predecessors.
It's not just the NRL where the old ways are no longer just simply accepted.
The AFL will no longer record the weight of or do skinfold tests during their pre-draft camps.
It's a case of the modern sports needing to adapt or risk losing the buy in of their most valuable commodity - the players.