Let's face it, we were always going to end up here.
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A sport which holds 1980s bloodbaths and State of Origin brawls in cult esteem had to tackle the issues and long-term health impacts of concussion and head trauma properly - sooner or later.
The shock should not be that the NRL has taken steps to address head-high contact but that the ARL Commission chose revolution over evolution to do so.
Rugby union is years ahead when it comes to high contact, yet rugby league has the bigger risks given they're coming off a 10-metre run-up to belt each other.
It shows how deeply ingrained tackle technique and living on the edge - when it comes to high contact - is in the NRL.
The players have simply failed miserably to adjust, as the sin-bins and send-offs piled up.
Anthony Griffin projected the message as a simple one when the crackdown loomed.
"You've just got to play to the rules. If they're the rules, it is what it is," he said.
"Nothing's going to change until they make a change, so we've just got to make sure we don't put ourselves in those positions."
And what happened?
Josh McGuire got sin-binned and Tyrell Fuimaono sent off, not only leaving the Dragons at the mercy of the Melbourne Storm but instigating a suspension crisis, just as they'd established themselves as a top-eight team. St George Illawarra are hardly on their own in the fallout of this, though Canberra turned having 11 players into an asset against the hapless Bulldogs.
"The send-offs last weekend of Josh Papalii, Herman Ese'ese and Fuimaono were all fair dinkum in my opinion, and I didn't have a problem with them," Mercury columnist and NRL great Laurie Daley wrote on Friday.
"In fact, I reckon the referees have been far too lenient for far too long with those types of incidents. They have been guilty of taking the easy option by putting similar incidents on report, rather than being brave enough to give them their matching orders on the spot.
"That's allowed players and coaches to get away with plenty."
So let's step past the fact the crackdown has happened and move to how it happened.
If the Commission had made it clear players had the off-season to adapt or the early rounds to eliminate head-high and borderline contact, it would have made for a softer landing.
However, in this case, policy on the run has left many fans either confused or outraged as to what the game now looks like.
Especially when you also factor in how the new rules have led to so many one-sided contests.
The NRL simply cannot backdown on the issue now.
It's up to the players to change and quickly.
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