I think the game has just evolved that way that if you tackle round the legs the attacker will either offload or land on his front and get a quick play the ball. I don't think it's the players not knowing how to tackle, but not being coached to tackle round the legs.

If tackling round the legs is what people want back, maybe only two men in a tackle should be introduced, but not for the safety reason that Dally brought up from what the surgeons said. Just so one goes high, one goes low.

Reading Big League magazine on a similar story on injury prevention / causes in RL.

apparently the NRL has completed a 3 year study on all injuries from Under 20 games to the NRL, looking for factors which add to injuries, even looking at types of grass various injuries occur on

the studies did show that the majority of injuries to players occur in the first 1/3rd of the season

Did they come up with any conclusion to why more injuries happen at the start of the season? Is it because pitches are harder at the start of the season in Australia?

they did conclude that it was earlier in the season players timing was off and the games not as intense

i thought it would more be because the body hasnt adapted too the game as it has later in the season

certainly stuff like serious knee injuries seem to occur early in the season, and hardly in the latter part of the season

and it often happens when a player gets one knee reconstructed the other knee will go later, probably because reconstructions arent as good as the real thing

only tackling around the legs is from the 1980s

if you dont wrap the ball up then teams will offload at will

Cheers for that nugget of info Dally! I'll send you the bill when my other knee goes!!

If this was done in the Aussie U20's, isnt it possible its due to the conditions of the pitches (rain, temperature etc)? Harder tracks are more often at the start of the Aussie season due to it being the tail-end of summer so the tracks will be harder and will obviously bang people up more right?

That's what I thought Kernel. But i think there's also more 'give' in the pitch when it's softer, so a boot will take a chunk of turf and the player will be fine on softer ground, on harder ground studs stick in and the ground is too hard, so a ligament/tendon takes the strain.

they looked at types of grass but you do raise a very interesting point ......

but last weekend for example a melbourne storm player was running and blew out his knee with no contact on him, and those types of injuries seem to happen a lot in the first part of the season

he went down like he was shot, tore his ACL.

and it was in melbourne where it tends to be wetter ...

Apart from when the heads clash, when has anyone got seriously injured from a shoulder charge?

tell you what kind of tackle bothers me...when a couple of defenders are holding up the ball carrier then a 3rd man in sticks the shoulder,at speed, into the back or ribs...the craig wing tackle from a few years ago is a perfect example of this....james graham got one in on ryan bailey during that firery game at st helens in 2009 (but obviously that one was ok..lol )


its abit naughty though imo...

Bloody hell if they ban these Wigan and Hudds are goosed

Luke Burgess away at Castleford last season, either a broken jaw or broken cheekbone from a shoulder to the head IIRC?

A nice delightful picture

but that wasnt from a shoulder charge, it was a regular tackle so jsut very unlucky.

I dont like the 3rd man into the tackle when the player is held and stood up - called the stinger by most teams. Danny Houghton at Hull is coached to do the stinger - not into the ribs or kidneys mind, but to take the legs, so the players goes to ground