“It’s obviously sad, but I’ve been fortunate enough to spend the last couple of years with Mason – I’ve watched him grow and develop on and off the field, achieve his goals, and he’s a bloody good bloke.
“I’m looking forward to seeing his next chapter because whatever path he chooses to go down he’s going to have some great success.”
The Reds will head to Canberra for Saturday’s clash against the Brumbies with the added motivation to thrive in Gordon’s honour, but the issue of concussion in sport will linger.
World Rugby have spearheaded research initiatives and changed community tackle height laws in a bid to eradicate avoidable head trauma. The NRL’s perceived crackdown on high tackles – done with a focus on player welfare – has drawn the ire of pundits for inconsistent rulings.
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Kiss, who made his name as a winger for the North Sydney Bears and Queensland Maroons before the health research and head injury assessment protocols were as prevalent, said the 15-man code had given players every reason to feel confident in the approach to safety.
“One of the things we’re very proactive on here is making sure we have a very good training environment and manage things as best as possible – it was certainly an innocuous situation,” Kiss said.
“He’s been well looked after by our medical staff, he hasn’t been sitting on his heels either – he’s been working hard on his qualifications in property economics, which is part of what we do in rugby in making sure people are well looked after when they do retire through different situations.
“I think we’ve seen massive improvement – we’ve got the mouthguards they wear to monitor those things, and those things you see often spike up in a game, those replacements are made, and the right procedures are in place to ensure we do the right thing by the player.
