What stuns me far more is the continued flagrant abuse of the protocols in place, in 2017, to protect players. There is no better example than the case of English player Kevin Brown, coached by our own Wayne Bennett.

A veteran player, who says himself has been knocked out cold several times in his 15 year career, last Saturday playing against New Guinea he received a sickening blow to the head from a Kumul shoulder, went down like a sack of spuds, only to get another blow a moment after he hit the ground.

He played on. Despite all the protocols in place, the examination by the doctor, it was only when the twittersphere exploded with the insanity of a player hit that badly playing on, and an English player brought the vision to the attention of the medical staff, that he was taken from the field. Despite that, at the time of going to press, Bennett had named him in the starting XIII for this weekend.

"If he's going to be declared to play," Bennett said, "he'll be able to train fully on Friday. I'm extremely confident. We'll bring another player in if we have to but I'm not planning on that."

This is not just any player. I repeat, this is a player with a history of concussions. He was knocked senseless on Saturday, and yet, whatever happens, Bennett wanted him to play. This is madness. Moral madness. Legal MADNESS. The English journalist John Davidson brought his own writings on the subject to my attention and noted that Brown had been already knocked out, badly, twice this year.

"After getting kneed in the face against Hull," Brown was quoted as saying, "I suffered really bad headaches. I also lost the vision in my right eye and that scared me a little bit and I had to go to hospital. It's never good getting back-to-back concussions and if you get a third it can be dangerous."

So look at that footage again. Tell me, rugby league, WTF you are THINKING, even contemplating putting a player with that history, after a hit like that, out there again, just a week later. If he was a boxer, he wouldn't be getting in the ring for another six months, minimum. Rugby league? No problem. Gotta win the game, mate. Get back out there. There will come a time you will have to pay the piper on this rugby league, and it will break you. You bastards do not have the excuse of yesteryear - you just didn't know. You now DO know, and you are still putting blokes like that back out there! It is a disgrace.

Nice work Dogs and Chooks

Fie, the Roosters and the Bulldogs. Who is responsible for those messes? For now that the smoke has cleared, after all the trades are done and dusted, all the headlines printed, there are two incontrovertible truths apparent, in both clubs. Somehow, the net outcome of all of their dealing is that they single-handedly managed to piss off - in both senses of the phrase - their best and most passionate player. With the Bulldogs, it was Josh Reynolds, who had dreamed of playing in the famous blue and white jersey since he could first walk, and had done so with more verve and swerve, more passion and smashin', than any Bulldog since Steve Mortimer - only to find himself hunted away this season. He will turn out for the Tigers next year.

Ditto, Mitchell Pearce. Been with the Roosters for a decade, his one and only club - and he was the most significant figure there. Yes, he has caused more than his fair share of bad headlines, too, but still no one there came close to net performance over so many years, producing so many victories. But the net result of the Cooper Cronk deal, we all saw for ourselves. Now that the smoke has cleared, the Roosters best and most passionate player has left the club, likely to play with Manly.

I am reminded, as ever on such occasions, by the words of David Letterman, on the night the news had broken that Woody Allen had run off with his stepdaughter: "And here's a special cheerio for Woody Allen's therapist ... Nice work."

Murray's memorabilia on block

TFF has been in touch with the widow of Murray Rose, Jodi, who advises that after long consideration, she will be putting up for auction much of the late, great Olympic swimming champion's memorabilia, including robes, tracksuits, blazers, towels, and swim suits from the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. Plus, lots of official programs, pins, stamps, big and little trophies, etc.

"It feels right to allow many of these beautiful items to go to Australian collectors [or museums] who will preserve them into the future."

The auctioneers for The Murray Rose Collection, are the Leonard Joel mob, and it will all be under the hammer at 10am on December 7, in Melbourne.

Hackett back on track

Meantime, at Melbourne's Intercontinental Hotel on Wednesday, TFF was pleased to run into another great Australian Olympic swimmer in Grant Hackett, who - like many swimmers of his generation - has recently been in troubled times. I am pleased to report he looked, fit and strong, both physically and emotionally. He has moved to Melbourne to be close to his kids, and is now working with an investment/funds management mob, and clearly going well!

Tiger of old is gone

The chief executive of Golf Australia Stephen Pitt talked up the virtues of paying appearance fees to appear in future Australian golf tournaments.

"I think if you had Tiger in Australia he would have enormous appeal. He's still Tiger Woods. The great thing about Tiger over the length of his career and why he was always a good investment is that he always performed. He always made cuts and he was always in contention and that's what you need from your international players."

Stephen? I guess, technically, he is still Tiger Woods, in the sense that that is the name he will have on his passport. But the Tiger Woods we knew, the unstoppable force, the golfer with the skills of a circus performer, is gone, and is never returning. As to your contention that he "always made the cuts", I respectfully point out that he actually missed the cut in four of the past five majors he played. None of which would necessarily be a problem if he had the warmth of a Jack Nicklaus, the charisma of Arnie Palmer, even the down-home earthiness of John Daly - he'd still be worth backing to come to the tournament, as people would want to see him.

But Tiger Woods was never like that. Yes, the most devastating player in the history of the game. But as to warmth, humility, ability to relate to the public, such stories about him were . . . non-existent. In sum, I would be very surprised if you'd get your appearance money back, because the public just won't pay to see play the shell of the golfer that was Tiger Woods, the man now ranked 1193rd best player in the world.

What they said

Ange Postecoglou, on why he is leaving the position of Socceroo coach: "I just think it's the right time for me." Well, that clears that up!

Tim Paine on his unexpected recall, as wicketkeeper, after seven years in the Test wilderness: "I'm not here for five minutes, I'm here to make the most of this opportunity . . . Hopefully I can be sitting in a room like this in two years or three years and we're talking about the back end of my Test career, not 'Geez, he could have been a good player back in 2009'. That's something that's really exciting for me, to be able to rewrite my story a bit and it's something I'm really keen to do."

Queensland captain and Test batsman, Usman Khawaja on counselling teammate Matt Renshaw, who was dropped from the position of opener after just 10 Tests: "I've talked to him a little bit. He came to my place the other day for a few games of pool. I towelled him up. There's no mercy at the Khawaja house."

Stuart MacGill tweets on the Ashes selections: "Ashes selections . . . made by morons masquerading as mentors. Times [sic] up gents . . . Forget Ferry McFerryface, let's vote on the idiots that pick the Australian cricket team."

Nathan Lyon talks up a big Test: "Could we end some careers? I hope so."

Socceroo Robbie Kruse on how the A-League has helped the Socceroos players . . . but it can only get them so far: "It's a testament to the A-League. In saying that, it's a different ball game in Europe."

Jason Day on his struggles: "I know in my heart I will climb that mountain [and get back to No.1] . . . I'd much rather be No.1 than No.12 in the world."

American gymnast Gabby Douglas in a quickly deleted tweet: "It is our responsibility as women to dress modestly and be classy. Dressing in a provocative/sexual way entices the wrong crowd." There was hell to pay, with her teammates pointing out that the primary responsibility is for their coaches not to molest them, no matter how they are dressed.

Feisty Michael Cheika after the England game: "Is that really what it's come to? I'm trying to get an interview without getting stuck into that and you want to try to keep making it [about that]. Maybe I could've said something if that's the new thing, yeah maybe I did swear. It happens sometimes in life, I'm sure you have as well, have you? Maybe the TV camera wasn't on you at the time?"

Eddie Jones, in contrast to Michael Cheika: "I didn't throw a pen today, I didn't swear. I think my mother will be pleased. I don't expect a phone call at five o'clock in the morning."

Kevin Durant on Ben Simmons: "You can tell he's an Aussie, too, because he doesn't mind getting into some scuffles, or showing his little feisty side." Kev? "Little feisty side," sounds a tad patronising. We will let it pass this once, but don't test us.

Matildas skipper Lisa De Vanna comparing the bad old days to now: "It was crap. It was terrible. We had to wear boys [training] clothes. I was washing undies and bras in the sink staying in budget hotels. It was really tough. But what we had back then was the love for the game and that hasn't changed. What has changed is we have proper support to be better athletes."

Women's cricket skipper Rachael Haynes follows suit: "When I started playing we would walk into empty stadiums and maybe your mum and your dad would be in the crowd, but in this series you couldn't walk up and say hello to your family without being swamped. It's been quite overwhelming the amount of support we've received from the Australian public and it's been great to be an athlete and part of this series."

Team of the week

Dean Mumm. Ahead of his walk to the North Pole next year, the famed Wallaby and Waratah is having an early Christmas family BBQ tomorrow at No.2 Oval, Sydney University. Raising money for Borne, a premature birth research charity. Google and go-go.

Eddie Jones. Two years in, with 21 victories from 22 starts, he has established an extraordinary level of success with the perennial under-achievers. All that, however, will be forgotten when the Wallabies nail them at the World Cup!

Sydney FC. Won the FFA Cup.

John Peers. Won the Year End World Tour Final for the second year in a row with Finnish partner Henri Kontinen

Hayley Silver-Holmes. If the young woman from Parramatta Women's Cricket Club turns into the next Elysse Perry, you heard it here first.

RIP Jana Novotna. The winner of 1998 Wimbledon women's singles title passes away age 49. She seemed like a good egg.

RIP Gillian Rolton. The two-time Olympic gold medallist passed away this week at the age of 61.

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz