While the gulf between junior football and the professional game may seem a world away<\/a>, V'landys acknowledges that without crops of youngsters signing up to play, the code's talent pool will eventually dry up.\u00a0<\/p>\n It's why he and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo are so committed to the league's new strict stance on head-high shots; to save the future of rugby league in Australia.<\/p>\n "The biggest issue for rugby league is participation," V'landys told Phil Gould in a special sit-down interview on Nine's 100% Footy.\u00a0<\/p>\n "All our key metrics, like it or not, in the juniors are down. And when you take into account the significant increase in the population rate, we haven't kept up with that. In real terms, we are even worse.<\/p>\n "It's not the same game, but you have to appreciate that the NRL is your shopfront. That's what people see. That's what people perceive. People don't go to junior sport, they see what's on television.<\/p>\n "I don't care what anyone says, when you watch an NRL match, that is your perception of the game. That is what mothers perceive. They don't go watching junior rugby league. And you're right, we should go and promote that junior rugby league is safe. But the Commission's prime objective at the moment is to increase participation, we're going to do everything in our power to do so."<\/p>\n Responding to comments surrounding the potential for future litigation from players left with lasting impacts from the game, V'landys was candid.\u00a0<\/p>\n "It's certainly a consideration, I'm not going to say it isn't," he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n "But for me, the prime issue is player welfare. Once a player retires it's a complete change in lifestyle. I firmly believe that knocks around the head do have an effect. And this 'win-all' mentality isn't everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n "You've got to also consider the player. You want to consider the families. And that is my responsibility. I want to be able to give the players back to their families once they retire in the best possible state. Welfare for me is everything, and whatever power I have to try and change the behaviors or change the tackling style, I will."<\/p>\n In all, 14 players were sin binned and three were sent off, in a wild round of footy in Brisbane, as players and fans were left scratching their heads over the new state of play.<\/p>\n Responding to the unprecedented sanctions, V'landys stressed that the NRL was for the first time simply enforcing the rules that were always there, arguing that it'd be up to coaches to modify tackling styles moving forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n "The rules have been there all the time," V'landys said.\u00a0<\/p>\n "These aren't new rules, these are just the rules being enforced, that's all it is. If it means we'll have to look at the tackling styles, we'll have to look at them. We want to make the game safe, and minimise life-long injury.<\/p>\n "That's (also) the challenge of the coaches now. Is to coach their teams and discipline their teams to change their behaviour, to change their tackling style the best they can.\u00a0<\/p>\n "And those coaches that do that will get a competitive advantage because they won't get their players sent to the sin bin, they won't get their player sent off, they won't be penalised."<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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