Boys playing a mans game..

Benji Marshall has once again suffered what could possibly be a season ending or worse a career ending shoulder injury. It is the sixth shoulder injury Benji has suffered in four years. Benji Marshall is only twenty one years old and has spent more time on the sidelines then tearing the field up with that giant left foot step.

Then there’s Sonny Bill Williams another Kiwi super star who has also spent the better half of his four year career in the NRL being operated by Doctor Hugh Hazard. Sonny Bill Has had major surgery on his shoulders, knees, ankle and feet and he too is only twenty one years of age.

In the NRL there have already been 247 injuries and the competition is only into the seventh round. So why are these athletes who train five days are week and are in peak physical form end up in the casualty ward.

There are many views and theories about why athletes such as Benji and Sonny are spending more time on the sidelines rather then the field.

Looking back at the history of league, the game was invented and played by people who never trained, had never stepped into a gym and at a very different intensity then today’s players. Quite simply the game was not invented nor designed to put that much pressure on peoples body. In 1908 many that played the game would have weighed between 65 to 80 kilos maximum. In today’s game the lightest players in the competition weigh around 85 kilos, with the heaviest players weighing over 130 kilos.