The pungent potion that's become a pre-match ritual in the NRL

Sydney Morning Herald

15-07-2025

Under the bright lights of the rival sheds in the moments before Queensland's win in last week's Origin decider, players gathered before cloth-covered bowls. They waited to step forward, bow their heads and inhale the curiously potent perfume that lay inside.
The ceremony aired on Wednesday, leaving spectators to wonder what kind of pre-match communion they had borne witness to and to ask what exactly the players were inhaling beneath Accor Stadium.
Queensland team doctor Matthew Hislop dispelled rumours about what was inside his team's bowl, declaring instead that the elixir was 'nothing sinister'. Instead, players were inhaling a simple combination of boiling water and eucalyptus oil, an aid to clearing the sinuses.
'It's pretty pungent,' Hislop said, explaining why some players withdraw their heads back or sneeze after sniffing the potion. 'Some of them, you know, breathe in a little harder than they should have, and you can gag a bit.'
Although he couldn't speak on behalf of the NSW camp, Hislop said he wasn't aware of teams still using a more disputed aid known as smelling salts – the common name for a combination of ammonia carbonate that is also sometimes paired with eucalyptus oil.
Sniffing ammonia carbonate is an old-fashioned method of waking someone after they've fainted, and a frowned-upon practice in the treatment of concussions in professional sports. The NFL banned the treatment, as did the NRL chief medical officer, Ron Muratore, in 2013. It's still prohibited for treating concussions under the NSW Rugby League's concussion policy.
Luke Bowen, a senior exercise physiologist, said that although smelling salts have been outlawed under concussion protocols, it's still a common ritual in rugby league.
'I don't think they're prohibited, but yes, they are widely used in rugby league,' Bowen said, before adding that some clubs also used Vicks VapoRub just as often.