Concussion impact waivers are certain to be included in future NRL contracts, rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns believes.
The legendary halfback also reckons that it's "really poor form" for players to sue the game after retiring, claiming that footballers are well aware of the risks.
The NRL has launched a major crackdown on high tackles, sparked by concerns about the threat of concussion lawsuits and also falling participation numbers.
Johns said that even if the game was cleaned up, NRL contracts would likely soon feature a clause that prevented players from taking legal action over head injuries.
"Of course. It's going to happen, for sure," Johns said in Wide World of Sports' Freddy and the Eighth. "When you put your hand out for money and you play, you know the consequences."
The concussion waiver idea is controversial but may be a necessity if professional rugby league is to continue long into the future, protected from costly legal action by past players. As legendary coach Phil Gould succinctly explained it on Nine: "Sign a paper which says, 'I understand the risks of playing this game'."
NRL great and current NSW State of Origin coach Brad Fittler said that most players were aware of the risk of permanent damage even before concussion became a highly-publicised issue.
"I knew playing the game that you could get hurt," Fittler said on Freddy and the Eighth.
"And I knew every time I went and got an operation that there was a chance it could hurt afterwards. That's the risk you take, that's the game. And you know what, if you look after yourself, your body recovers pretty well.
"Concussions are a little bit different and that's why we're taking it so serious. But when you put your hand up to play the game, you know what's happening."
Johns said that he had been impacted by head knocks in his post-football life. He has previously pondered whether his diagnosed frontal lobe epilepsy, which has given him seizures, was caused by concussive impacts while playing football.
"I've had some dramas with concussion stuff after I've retired but that's the consequences," he said on Freddy and the Eighth.
"I knew what I was getting myself into playing this game. If you're a boxer or a UFC fighter, you go in the ring or octagon knowing there could be some consequences from putting everything on the line.
"People who finish the game and start to sue for concussions, I think it's poor, really poor form."
A fellow former Newcastle Knights player, James McManus, was one NRL star who opted to sue over concussion issues. Other players to have taken legal action include Reece Williams, Brett Horsnell and John Higgins.
Johns said that by cracking down so heavily on high contact, the NRL may inadvertently spark a rise in other varieties of head knocks.
A common concussive blow in the NRL occurs when a player tackles a ball-runner low and strikes their head on a hip bone, or another hard, fast-moving body part.
"I was a low tackler when I played, my contact was at the hips," said Johns, who was an exceptional defender for a halfback.
"I had plenty of concussions playing. I reckon 90 per cent of them were from defending low.
"For every reaction there's going to be consequence, so if you've got blokes tackling low, dropping their head, hitting hips, elbows, knees, you're going to get more concussions. I reckon more concussion from that [than tackling high]."
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