Titmuss finished a 90-minute training session on Monday morning, before collapsing during a stretching session about midday with the squad.
www.smh.com.au
Manly player Keith Titmuss, 20, has died after a pre-season training session at Narrabeen on Monday but the club currently "without answers" as to how the tragedy occurred.
Titmuss finished a 90-minute training session on Monday morning, before collapsing during a stretching session around midday with the squad.
He had previously complained about body cramps coming off from the non-contact, mid-range training session.
The club called a doctor to the scene before calling an ambulance.
He was said to be conscious when leaving the session in the ambulance where he was transported to Northern Beaches Hospital. Titmuss later took a turn and was transferred to Royal North Shore Hospital, where he died.
Manly chief executive Stephen Humphreys said the club was "in shock" and were unaware of any underlying medical conditions that may have contributed to the player's death.
"We are also without answers about what has happened," he said. "I wasn't present when it happened, but I am on my way to the hospital, Des [Hasler] is there now so might found out more then."
Manly coach Des Hasler said the club was "devastated" by the news.
“Keith was a very popular character amongst the playing group," he said. "He will be sorely missed but never forgotten by the Sea Eagles.”
Manly informed players who were present at the session, including Daly Cherry-Evans, Jake and Tom Trbojevic, via a meeting on Monday afternoon.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said the game would be offering councillor to the club and teammates.
“This is a tragic day for rugby league,’’ he said.
“The game has lost a promising young player with the world at his feet. Keith had made it into Manly’s Top 30 for the 2021 season after coming through the club’s junior ranks.
Abdo said the NRL would be making sure Titmuss' family had "every support" they required from the governing body.
“We are one family and today we have lost a member of that family. On behalf of the Commission and the game I send my deepest condolences to Keith’s family.”
Mr Abdo said NRL wellbeing staff were at the club on Monday afternoon and had arranged grief counselling.
Titmuss scored the match-winning try for the Sea Eagles in the 2017 NYC Grand Final and was named the Manly Jersey Flegg Cup Players' Player in 2019.
The 20-year-old was a promising young forward who had come through the Sea Eagles junior representative teams as a teenager. Titmus had been included in Manly's senior squad for 2021.
It is not the first time Manly have experienced a serious health incident during pre-season training.
In 2018, Manly forward Lloyd Perrett revealed he suffered a seizure and heatstroke after collapsing at a training session.
Perrett, 23, sparked serious concerns for the club in January of that year after collapsing twice during two kilometre time trials, due to suspected heat exhaustion.
“I woke up thinking what happened? I’m about to die. I had no understanding of what had gone on,” he told
foxsports.com.au.
The young forward was rushed to hospital, and said he thought he “must be dying” upon regaining consciousness.
Earlier this year, the NRL world was left reeling over news Boyd Cordner's cousin, 19-year-old Joel Dark, had passed away after suffering a head knock in a rugby league game on September 6.
The youngster was playing in his first-grade debut for Central Newcastle club when the accident occurred, with Dark suffering a seizure on the field. Over $100,000 was raised in just five days via a GoFundMe page for the teenager's family.