IN the final act of a world gone mad, rugby league juniors under eight years old are being offered wrestling classes by a martial arts school to prepare them for their footy careers.

Junior players at Wests Illawarra have been emailed a deal with Wollongong Judo club in a bid to “teach kids safe and effective grappling and wresting techniques in the off season”.

The email to junior players promised:

“The aim is to keep kids in mental and psychical condition during the off season, via methods of safe and effective grappling and wrestling combined with take-downs, in hip pivots to deflect and control body mass safely.

“This will aid those kids who are not effective in close contact (afraid to tackle) ...

“The club is prepared to make extra classes for numbers on Wednesday [and] Friday, 4.30pm, for kids under eight, then another for under 12.”

KENT: Time to tackle the wrestle mania

NRL head of football Todd Greenberg responded on Tuesday night, declaring the NRL would ban wrestling techniques being taught to children.

“Clearly this is a concern. Junior footy is not the place for wrestling techniques. We will certainly assess the circumstances and along with the relevant bodies consider what we can do to protect the integrity of the game at this level.”