BY DAN

Corey Harawira-Naera’s seizure on the field during round 13 of last season’s victory over the South Sydney Rabbitohs was scary.

It’s the kind of moment that casually reminds you how little football matters. The players of both sides huddled around Harawira-Naera, desperate to maintain a bit of dignity for a man going through a truly horrible personal event. I’m projecting, or perhaps presuming, but it seemed they did this because they did not trust the TV cameras, and by extension, the media more generally, to treat this situation appropriately.

For a time it seemed their concerns were if not misguided, if then heeded by the media. Harawira-Naera’s situation was treated with due deference throughout the season. Generally people just wanted to know he was ok. Whatever came after that was secondary.

But in the enthusiasm for him to return to the field there has been a confusion about his status in reports. This from Fox news (repeated in Zero tackle) excitedly touted an admittedly ambiguous tweet from the Raiders social media team, moving quickly from ‘he’s fine’ (a leap that Harawira-Naera hadn’t and hasn’t confirmed) to working out where he fits in the Raiders depth chart and even somewhat touting a position battle in the return pathway. More recently ‘reporting‘ by rumour aggregators has suggested that Harawira-Naera’s career may be over, a matter that will be decided in January. It’s hard to tell what this is based on. These sites rarely cite their sources.

Both of these approaches support but seem to misinterpret reporting from the Canberra Times that has consistently, and in a more detailed manner, outlined the ongoing uncertainty and physical challenge surrounding Harawira-Naera’s health. In October they detailed the process of passing concussion tests, and the stubbornly high readings of the cardiac enzyme troponin. That obstacle overcome, the remaining challenge is to the rhythm of his heartbeat, which the paper reports needs to return to normal before he will be cleared to play. His next appointment for testing is in January.

The reporting of the Canberra Times important work, and one that displays the differing responsibilities between actual journalists (like David Polkinghorne at the Times) and others in the industry (including us, even though we’re not in the industry, just a numpty with a keyboard). Real journalists have access – that’s a big selling point. They don’t have to guess what things mean based on club social media or through whatever other methods rumour aggregators acquire their information. Actual journalists can just go call the Raiders media guy and you know, ask, assess the validity of the response, and let us know what was said. The rest of us are just vibing.

It’s a valuable contribution when it’s done well (and to be clear, the Times and Polkinghorne have been doing a good job in my inexpert opinion). In a situation like this it’s important to not rush or to claim to know more than is. It’s one thing to prematurely retire a man, as Fox did recently when they slipped Papalii’s name into the list of retiring players at the club. All that seems to have done is spurned worry and wistfulness from us and some questions to the big man from his parents.

While generally I wouldn’t worry about opinion pages, aggregators or rumour sites pushing the envelope beyond what is reported as fact (lord knows we’ve been a part of these messes and made those mistakes), these circumstances are different. Harawira-Naera’s situation isn’t just footy, or even livelihood, but actual life and death. We need to do better. It is incumbent on the media (in all its professional and unprofessional forms) to make sure this is discussed appropriately. The Times is doing that. I hope we all follow suit.

Outlining the detail of a player’s health condition is one that needs tact and clarity, not in the least because people who aren’t doctors like to tell you about what their unscientific and context-less algorithm tells them. Blessed be the man with google and an undeserved self-belief I guess. Harawira-Naera’s condition isn’t hard to articulate. It’s a wait-and-see from doctors, until the club, Corey, and the trained medical staff make a statement otherwise. The Canberra Times, NRL Physio, and others have all articulated the situation with clarity and accuracy. We should try to emulate them.

Let’s assume the less perfect discussion and rumours are coming from the right place and just want Corey to be back chasing his dream. Until something actually factual is reported we should all wait, and withhold getting too carried away in any direction. I wouldn’t call this a principled position – more practical and prudent one. It’s one we should all consider.

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