He certainly calls it as he see's it does our coach www.superleague.co.uk/article/31 ... ng-garbage I am particularly confused as to which club he could be referring to with this quote "There are certain teams in this competition who cannonball people and hit people in the head." Anyone got any thoughts on which club?

He certainly calls it as he see's it does our coach www.superleague.co.uk/article/31 ... ng-garbage I am particularly confused as to which club he could be referring to with this quote "There are certain teams in this competition who cannonball people and hit people in the head." Anyone got any thoughts on which club?

"Them"

What happened to Evans is a shame. Nobody likes or wants injuries in the game.

That being said, as KC says, it's a contact sport and they're part and parcel of the game. It was an unfortunate accident that his pillared leg got caught by the front on tackler, but it was nothing more than an accident. As I said on the warrington forum, I didn't get what Smith was hoping for by claiming they're was a specific tackling technique involved. They're are several examples in the same game of warrington players tackling Walmsley in the same manner.

You stand up in a tackle and your there to be put down, Players from every club lift a leg and drop you down.
Evans was just unlucky his standing leg got caught under the tackle.

Get well soon Ben

Smith should know better, it wasn't intentional and unfortunately, these things happen in a contact sport like ours.

However, with regard the banter on this page, the young Warrington player has suffered a horrible injury and had to have surgery to sort it. There's bound to be a bit of hard feeling from the Wire supporters. Let's not all dive on the Wolfs board telling them not to get their knickers in a twist.

Why not? There was absolutely no intent to injure, nor was it a dangerous technique. It was just a freak accident.

I wholeheartedly agree, and [isome[/i will realise that. I would just suggest that it would be in good taste to allow the others vent (on their own board) in peace.

message received

I thought the tackle was innocent, in the sense that there was no intent to injure at all. I don't think the various tacklers were necessarily aware of the position Evans had found himself in.

However, I am increasingly concerned about the way tackling has evolved in super league over the last 5 years. There's always been an element to the tackle of controlling the speed of the PTB, and this used to involve players seeking to stand up the ball carrier with a ball-and all tackle, then get an extra man in to put him on the deck, with tacklers on top. This then evolved with the introduction of wrestling techniques, of which some - putting pressure on joints - were rapidly and rightly outlawed. What I seem to be seeing more and more of now, however, is players trying to hold up the man, and then get two or three bodies in not to put him on the deck, but to push him back in the collision while he is effectively helpless, or even part grounded. It's this techniques which I think is responsible for what seems to be a significant increase in serious injuries - particularly leg injuries - in our game. Watch the next game, and look to see the number of times when a ball-carrier is swamped with three or even four tacklers, and has at least one leg pinned stationary on the ground, while his body is being twisted in a different direction by two or three additional tacklers. It's pretty gruesome to watch, and places huge pressure on the knee in particular.

In a collision sport like ours, injuries will always be part of the game. However, I do genuinely think that the tackling techniques which combine wrestling, multiple-tacklers, and trying to force the man back in the tackle simultaneously, are increasingly dangerous. Thankfully, it's still very rare in the amateur games I ref, because players are rarely fit or drilled enough to get more than 2 tacklers into the collision, and not usually powerful enough to engage in serious driving back of the halted player. But in the pro game I think we're approaching a situation in which we need to consider rule changes to the tackle to prevent horrendous injuries such as that Evans suffered.

That's what I said on the Warrington forum, but with more of an 'oh come on' edge to it. (And not quite so clever and knowledgeable).

Hard to tell the difference really.

Well said. I think that this is what TS is talking about ie;wrestling techniques. It's Rugby League not WWE.

On a side note my 13yr old nephew has, this afternoon, undergone a knee operation due to a tackle that he sustained. It involved him being held up in the tackle, by two oponents and then other(s) coming in.

Cunningham is spot on. Compete accident. A little over the top in his defence as Smith doesn't really call out saints in particular but by bringing it up right after the game Smith can be accused of insinuating certain things.

Id be shocked if smith didn't encourage his players to adopt those sort of wrestling techniques. He even said after the game that they needed to slow the ruck down and be more in control. Hypocrite.

I understand that there is a risk to lifting legs of a standing player but where do you cross the line? It's a contact sport and players will get hurt

If you remember it was John Wilkin who mentioned this about 3 or 4 years ago that players were being subjected to extra stress on muscles and joints but he got shot down by quite a few fans of being soft when in reality he was looking at players welfare.

This problem is partially down to the RFL, at the same time the RFL were concerned about blow out scores not being good for the image of Superleague and allowed the refs to police a much slower play the ball, the outcome was to reduce the intensity out of games, then Wigoons took it one step further with the wrestling and slow exit from the ruck area.

We are also being subjected to "trial by television" a lot more by slowing the action frame by frame which makes incidences much worse than seing it in real time.

It would be good to see a much quicker play the ball instead of 5 drives and a kick that we get a lot of the time, will the RFL address it or wait until we get more injuries in the multi player tackle.

I've not watched it back on tv so not seen the incident but I find it funny that smith moaning about dangerous tackles when he has the head hunter super Benny Westwood.

If you put some of his head shots on a DVD it was would be a x rated 18yrs certificate. Talk about ending someone's career, I've seen some super benny westwood tackles that can end a life.

Yes it did cross my mind the other day that Benny the Fist does has intent to injure most of the time to the head. It was also funny in that I think a Cas player has had a match ban for throwing a punch at Morley who is a serial offender at this kind of stuff.