DANNY Jones had been laughing and joking with his team-mates on the Keighley team coach heading to London Skolars last weekend.

The hugely popular stand-off was, as usual, at the heart of the banter within Paul March's squad. Spirits were high as they set their sights on a fifth straight League One victory.

Cougars chairman Gary Fawcett was on board the bus, talking to Jones and the rest of March's men about kitting them out in official club attire.

"I was actually going round the coach getting the players' neck sizes because we were planning to kit everyone out with executive shirts which the directors wear," said Fawcett.

"The players had asked for them so they can wear them after a match. Danny was just laughing and joking at that point, messing around as usual as the life and soul of the group."

Just hours later, Jones had passed away after suffering a suspected cardiac arrest.

When the awful news was confirmed on Sunday night, it felt unfathomable. Four days on, it still feels that way. How could a player, a seemingly healthy athlete in his prime, lose his life following a rugby league match?

The loss of Jones evoked memories of the traumatic journey that Bulls centre Adrian Purtell made in re-establishing himself at the highest level of the game ten months after suffering a heart attack in May 2012.

It also raised concerns about player welfare; serious concerns. Although regular heart screening takes place in Super League, it is not mandatory in the second and third tiers of professional rugby league.

As Cougars captain James Feather said in the aftermath of Jones' passing, it should be.

Feather said: "The players come down here to train four nights a week after work and it's a lot on their bodies. You don't know what underlying problems they might have until something like this happens.

"The Rugby Football League definitely needs to stand up and try to put something in place to make sure players are looked after."

It is easy to forget the stresses and strains on players who play their rugby league on a part-time basis. The vast majority have full-time jobs and train several times a week after work.

When Cougars full back Craig Moss quit the game at the end of 2013, he said: "Being a semi-professional rugby player is harder than being a full-time rugby player because of the expectation you have to balance.

"Rugby league is not nice to the semi-professional – it doesn't look after them one little bit. It's very fickle.

"If you don't get picked for a Super League side, you still get your 30 to 40 grand wage. If you don't get picked for your Championship team, you are still expected to turn up three or four times a week and still only pull in your contract money, which is a couple of grand for half the players."

Jones worked in the family scaffolding firm and took time off work to be part the Wales squad in the 2013 World Cup. It hit him in the pocket because the money that Wales players received for representing their country was a pittance.

The challenges facing part-time players are considerable and the sacrifices they make are often huge.

Tony Tonks, a 30-year-old forward with Sheffield Eagles, is adamant that players outside of Super League must be better cared for.

He has been pushing for Electrocardiography (ECG) to be made compulsory through the Yorkshire-based charity Heartbeat of Sport, of which he recently became chief executive.

Tonks said: "For the last two years I have been trying to stress the need for screening, defibrillators and CPR training throughout the rugby league community and all sporting clubs.

"Testing players for cardiac problems, I believe, should be done annually. We cannot 100 per cent ensure that a cardiac arrest will not happen, even after an ECG, but it will almost certainly go a long way in helping reduce risk."

Sheffield head coach Mark Aston added: "It is time now for every rugby league player to be checked.

"Tony is very angry about it because he has spoken to the RFL previously about having this introduced. It is something that Tony has believed in passionately and this could have been averted."

Jones was a husband, father, son and a brother as well as a much-loved team-mate and respected player throughout the game.

The funds raised for his family this week have been quite astonishing and said everything about how highly regarded he was.

A massive crowd is expected for the Cougars' home clash with Coventry on Sunday, a match which will go ahead on the insistence of Jones' wife Liz.

Significantly, all Keighley's players are set to be screened and medically checked before the Coventry contest.

Hopefully this will be the start of things to come in providing better levels of medical care for players throughout all levels of the game.