North Queensland Cowboys hooker Reed Mahoney has been praised for a moment of compassion during a heated clash against his former side, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, after a sickening collision left Kurt Mann dazed on the turf.
The incident unfolded in the 36th minute of Friday night’s match when Mann attempted to tackle Matt Lodge, only to cop a heavy blow to the head.
Lodge raised his forearm in the contact, collecting Mann high and sending him jolting backwards into Sitili Tupouniua, who had also moved in to complete the tackle.
Mann managed to get back to his feet unassisted, but appeared visibly groggy as play came to a halt.
Mahoney, who previously played alongside Mann at the Bulldogs, immediately stepped in to support the 33-year-old, holding him upright as medical staff rushed onto the field.
The Cowboys hooker remained with Mann until a trainer arrived, steadying his former teammate during the aftermath of the heavy collision.
Bulldogs star Kurt Mann was concussed in a tackle and his former teammate Reed Mahoney came to his aid
Mahoney broke from the play to assist his mate, with Mann in visible distress and stumbling across the field
Mann was later assessed by medical staff and displayed category one concussion symptoms, resulting in his immediate removal from the game.
Under the NRL’s mandatory protocols, he will now miss at least 11 days, ruling him out of next Thursday night’s clash with the Dolphins at Suncorp Stadium.
The injury adds to a growing list for the Bulldogs, with Viliame Kikau sidelined with a pectoral issue and Max King also unavailable.
Despite the physical nature of the contest between the two sides, Mahoney’s act quickly drew attention from fans, many of whom reacted to the moment on social media.
‘That moment stole my heart,’ one fan wrote.
‘Say what you like about him. But he’s a decent human being,’ another posted.
‘It’s been a blessing in disguise that he’s now out of the Dogs. He’s really calmed down and playing more like a gentleman,’ a third added.
Prior to the match, Cowboys coach Todd Payten said Mahoney was carrying extra motivation into the clash.
Mahoney helped stabilise Mann and kept him steady until the Bulldogs trainer could arrive to help
‘I would suspect, going back and playing there, means more to him than any other player this weekend,’ Payten said.
‘He might say publicly it doesn’t, but I know myself, I’ve been in that situation, it does. He’s super motivated.’
Canterbury’s spluttering attack failed to fire once more as the Bulldogs slumped to a 28-12 NRL defeat at the hands of North Queensland.
The Bulldogs fell to a third-straight loss on Friday as the Cowboys notched up a valuable win at Accor Stadium to boost off-contract head coach Todd Payten’s hopes of gaining an extension.
Payten’s side have been one of the NRL’s most-entertaining, high-scoring sides in 2026 but put their flamboyant attack in their back pocket for long periods and relied on defensive steel to pick up their sixth win in seven games.
Payten was most pleased with his charges’ efforts in defence, particularly in the middle, to keep the Bulldogs to just 12 points.
‘There’s no doubt that we’re going to have to be more resilient as a group when we defend and we showed that tonight and have showed it in periods through this year,’ Payten said.
‘The thing I also like is how consistent we’ve been getting out of our own end and not making the errors and putting us under pressure there.
‘Everyone’s contributing and that was a real team performance tonight.’
