NRL player Keith Titmuss died after 'inappropriate' training session, coroner finds
A magistrate who oversaw an inquest into the death of a young NRL player has made a raft of recommendations to the league about the risks of heat-related illness. Keith Titmus collapsed during a training session in November 2020 and later died in hospital.
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00:00 He says that the review should consider that the training sessions after an extended break
00:08 should include a mandatory 14 day period of gradually coming back to training.
00:13 And he's concluded that this particular training session was more likely than not inappropriate
00:18 given things like the hot conditions in the indoor part of the training session and the
00:23 involuntary dehydration suffered by some of the players.
00:27 Magistrate Lee has also said the review should consider that the incidence of heat related
00:35 illness should be mandatorily reported by NRL clubs.
00:39 And he's also made a recommendation to Manly itself as a club that they need to improve
00:43 their record keeping.
00:45 Now outside court we actually heard from the Manly boss and he's told us that the club
00:49 plans to take on board the recommendations.
00:53 We intend to take the recommendations up that the Zona has given down today so this can't
01:00 happen again in the game, we all understand that and we don't want to happen under Manly's
01:05 watch ever again.
01:06 Jamie, have we heard from Keith's family at all?
01:10 Yeah, the family says they're very happy with these recommendations.
01:15 During the course of this inquest Keith Titmuss was remembered as someone who was kind, gentle,
01:20 unassuming and a larrikin and very much a family man.
01:23 So we spoke to his mother outside court and she said that this has been a really difficult
01:27 process but she is satisfied now that they do truly understand Keith's cause of death.
01:35 Keith loved life and he loved rugby league and he just did the work.
01:45 He knew that if he didn't have the goods he wouldn't have pursued it.
01:49 He had such self belief in himself and he was so looking forward to making a mark in
01:56 the world, in the rugby league world.
01:58 Now there was, as we saw there, a really big group of family and friends who were referred
02:02 to as Keith's tribe.
02:04 He was a very much loved part of that family and the NRL community.
02:08 But the family says they're pretty happy with these recommendations and they're hoping that
02:13 the recommendations will mean that the risks of heat related illnesses are taken more seriously
02:19 in the future.
02:20 Jamie McKinnell, thank you so much.
02:22 [BLANK_AUDIO]