Official Andrew Fifita

[Proud Shark]

Serious question, Who pays for all this surgery and rehab he needs? Us, even if he's off contract or his own private health insurance, hate to see the gap on any of it...

I'm sure they'd all have top notch private health insurance. Plus the fact he was making 850k a year, I'm sure it wont cause too much damage to his back pocket.

 

[bort]

I'm sure they'd all have top notch private health insurance. Plus the fact he was making 850k a year, I'm sure it wont cause too much damage to his back pocket.

Back pocket is his healthiest part

 

[Sparkles]

Wade ain’t going down as a sharks legend, (will be remembered but not a legend)

But Fifita will!!!

Far out hope he stays on at the club as a mentor/ trainer

Interesting point... Ha always been strong for us but I have doubts he'll be remembered as one of the greats

 

[HaroldBishop]

Interesting point... Ha always been strong for us but I have doubts he'll be remembered as one of the greats

Wade of Andy?

 

[Gumby]

Interesting point... Ha always been strong for us but I have doubts he'll be remembered as one of the greats

Agreed. He’s been a good player but not in our elite players category

 

[Thresher]

Wade of Andy?

Is this some kind of chemical concentrate?

 

[HaroldBishop]

Is this some kind of chemical concentrate?

I heard they're twins.

 

[BurgoShark]

Serious question, Who pays for all this surgery and rehab he needs? Us, even if he's off contract or his own private health insurance, hate to see the gap on any of it...

This would be something defined in the CBA. It’s likely that it either gets paid by the club - since he sustained those injuries while employed by them - or by the NRLPA retirement fund.

I’ve had two ankle reconstructions in the last 4 years, and my son had surgery after he dislocated and fractured his patella. The major expense wasn’t actually the gap ($10-12k surgery cost $1000). It’s the scans and rehab. MRIs are expensive, and 6 months of physio/massage visits with a gap of $80 a pop adds up.

 

[Shortfin Mako]

This would be something defined in the CBA. It’s likely that it either gets paid by the club - since he sustained those injuries while employed by them - or by the NRLPA retirement fund.

I’ve had two ankle reconstructions in the last 4 years, and my son had surgery after he dislocated and fractured his patella. The major expense wasn’t actually the gap ($10-12k surgery cost $1000). It’s the scans and rehab. MRIs are expensive, and 6 months of physio/massage visits with a gap of $80 a pop adds up.

Physios are usually something like $100 per visit so the insurance does not pay much...

 

[BurgoShark]

Physios are usually something like $100 per visit so the insurance does not pay much...

First couple of visits they cover a lot. After that it drops. By the end with my son I think we were paying $95 and getting $18 back.

 

[Western Sharkie]

Craig Fitzgibbon marvels at Andrew Fifita’s recovery from life-threatening throat injury​

Craig Fitzgibbon marvels at Andrew Fifita’s recovery from life-threatening throat injury | Sporting News Australia

Craig Fitzgibbon has shed some light on Andrew Fifita’s final year at Cronulla after the prop fought back from a life-threatening injury to eventually bow out of the game in 2022.

www.sportingnews.com

 

[egg]

Fifita calls for better NRL medical help​

George ClarkeAAP
January 29, 2023 2:43PM

TOPICS​

Rugby League
Battered, bruised and needing six operations in a 12-month period after his gruelling NRL career, Andrew Fifita says he's a perfect example of why the players' union is fighting for better medical assistance for recently-retired players.
A new medical support fund is one of the key battlegrounds for the Rugby League Players Association in the stalled collective bargaining agreement negotiations with League Central.
Retired players are exempt from workers' compensation but are given a year - a timeframe which the RLPA wants to extend - to have corrective surgeries covered by the game.
In the case of Fifita, who played nearly 300 games at elite level, he faces the daunting prospect of six procedures in the space of a year.
He has already had an osteotomy on his knee as well as having his nose reconstructed.
"I've got 12 months to get it done, and I feel like I'm rushing to get it all sorted," he told AAP.
"I find having 12 months is a bit of a s**t go, but I feel like that's why it's important what the RLPA is doing.
"I've always heard from past players who said how important it was to get your body checked (before retirement) so you can get all the stuff you need."
Fifita had considered playing on in 2023 but an exit medical assessment at Cronulla prompted him to hang up his boots.
"I wanted to scan my whole body; it made me wonder what else was going on in my body," he said.
The former Tongan international must go under the knife for problems with his wrist, shoulder and elbow and needs to have a finger fused.
The 12-month window has two implications for the former Sharks favourite.
If he requires further surgery beyond the next year he won't be covered by the game.
It has also meant that after recently beginning a mentoring role at a school in Sydney's south he has had to book all of his surgeries around the holidays.
He claimed he underestimated how much pain he would be in when he agreed to operations on his knee and nose within three weeks of each other.
"I really underplayed it and how sore I was," said the 33-year-old.
"Up until I got my knee surgery I worked and then got it done just before Christmas and I was bedridden for the whole school holidays."
Fifita conceded he was one of the more fortunate players after enjoying a glittering career at the elite level.
And he said if push came to shove he would prioritise working over having surgeries.
"With my family hat on, my bills aren't going to pay themselves," he said. "My kids have to be fed.

 

[Tiger Shark]

And he said if push came to shove he would prioritise working over having surgeries.
"With my family hat on, my bills aren't going to pay themselves," he said. "My kids have to be fed.

Really hope he's got some savings, sounds like he's strapped with comments like that lol

 

[Up-Up Cronulla]

And he said if push came to shove he would prioritise working over having surgeries.
"With my family hat on, my bills aren't going to pay themselves," he said. "My kids have to be fed.

Really hope he's got some savings, sounds like he's strapped with comments like that lol

Was on 800K for the last 4 years wasn't he?

 

[BurgoShark]

Was on 800K for the last 4 years wasn't he?

Report was roughly that on average. Varied across years though, as he deferred some payments.

 

[BurgoShark]

I think the players have a fair argument in this medical stuff. It would be interesting to know what sort of funding a career-ending injury gets from the NRL (e.g. Alex McKinnon). Was there a 12-month time bomb on payments for his bills?

 

[bort]

I think the players have a fair argument in this medical stuff. It would be interesting to know what sort of funding a career-ending injury gets from the NRL (e.g. Alex McKinnon). Was there a 12-month time bomb on payments for his bills?

Yeah maybe three years?
I do understand the NRL can't just call it a lifetime coverage.

You'd think also some leniency for someone like Fifita where all the issues are identified within the 1 year (or in fact, at the point of retiring).
Not like he has popped up 2 or 3 years later asking for a surgery, he can show he needs all of them right now.

Also complicates matters if guys go and put 5-10 years into bush footy after retiring from NRL. If it was a 5 or 10 year window from NRL guys could be getting new injuries by playing that but claiming against NRL.

Maybe the NRL says 1 year to force the players to act? When would Fifita get around to all these surgeries otherwise?
But I don't think 1 year is long enough.

Stagger it maybe? 0-50 games 1 year, 51-150 games 2 years, 151-250 games 3 years, 251+ 4 years
Guys who play longer are more likely to accumulate a greater spread of damage.

And he said if push came to shove he would prioritise working over having surgeries.
"With my family hat on, my bills aren't going to pay themselves," he said. "My kids have to be fed.

Really hope he's got some savings, sounds like he's strapped with comments like that lol

Yeah that was a concern wasn't it
Hopefully he just means he needs the cashflow so he doesn't have to sell any of his investments...

 

[Proud Shark]

And he said if push came to shove he would prioritise working over having surgeries.
"With my family hat on, my bills aren't going to pay themselves," he said. "My kids have to be fed.

Really hope he's got some savings, sounds like he's strapped with comments like that lol

I've heard second hand he's very comfortable. He's been working in wellbeing roles and has apparently made it clear he's not in it for the money because he doesn't need to be.

 

[Sparkles]

And he said if push came to shove he would prioritise working over having surgeries.
"With my family hat on, my bills aren't going to pay themselves," he said. "My kids have to be fed.

Really hope he's got some savings, sounds like he's strapped with comments like that lol

I bet his kids would eat shedloads though

 

[Matty C of the Shire]

I think the players have a fair argument in this medical stuff. It would be interesting to know what sort of funding a career-ending injury gets from the NRL (e.g. Alex McKinnon). Was there a 12-month time bomb on payments for his bills?

To set something up to the standard of what the players want, Will costs up to a billion at least.
there is something similar already set up but that was set up many many moons ago by the government for defence personnel.
if the players want something like this, they can be on contracts for less than $100000 and play longer.
the system isn’t the best, (DVA is a bitch) but it’s slowly getting better …

Players can fund their own unless they ask for a huge pay decrease