Looking at it together with the tragic death of Mosese Fotuaika, regardless of what Barbahas done I think the NRL and clubs need to do more about assisting younger players and helping them cope with the significantly extra responsibility at such a young age. Combine expectations, failure, pressure both personally and personal together with transitioning from a teenager which is a time where you'd usually be partying and pushing boundaries for a footballer would be extraordinarily difficult. Back in the day, many more of these kids were forced to work and study etc but now there is such a media focus on them and things like social media etc. don't make it easier.
Besides getting the clubs, NRL etc more involves and up to date on player welfare my other suggestion would be to make a system similar to the US College system for sports whereby you need to study something and must pass the grades otherwise you don't play. It adds more responsibility rather than just focussing 100% on sport that they must perform at and gives players something to fall back on after they retire, if they are forced to retire early or even if they don't make the grade - like many won't. It doesnt just have to be university but can be a trade where you still have to do Tafe etc. I think something like this should be mandatory - may get criticised for it but i reckon you should be suspended if you're young and are not performing (like they do in the us system) - even if you are a star player. Can't speak for Tafe but at Uni all you really need to do is turn up and do your work and for a commerce full time degree it's only about 12-14 hrs class time a wk - most students drop out as they skip classes etc as they are not used to being forced to attend like school.
