But it's not though. Wigan, under Maguire and since HAVE been coaching players to attack the legs of players held in the tackle. There have been mass brawls in Wigan academy games over it, where the opposition has taken exception to it and kicked off. 'Snapping the pole', 'car crash', the speech Wane did on Sky that ultimately showed why Wigan lost the plot last season.

This isn't a purely Wigan issue, it's a tactic other clubs have been desperate enough to join in with. However you word the ruling, it's a very simple rule change that would have little to no impact on the game, but would enhance the safety of players.

I'm surprised you've managed to infer hysteria from anything I've said - I'm not generally a hysterical person.

Injury to players is one part of this - I also take exception to the ugly spectacle the game has become since the introduction of the 'hunt in packs' gang tackle, and the strategy of holding the tackled player up, so your fellow defenders can join in late and chop him recklessly to the ground, then clamber all over each other in the ensuing melee, to ensure a slow ptb and a set defensive line. It's against the spirit of the game in my view, and would be relatively easy to sort out.

You said;





In my view this is way, way OTT. The game is quicker than it has ever been. Trying to slow the PTB is part of the game, which is a completely different thing to the very occasional attempt to deliberately injure someone. I am sure you are not an hysterical person, but your comments are bordering on the dictionary definition.

What's not? I have already agreed it started & spread from Wigan. There is no need to change the law; it just needs applying to breaches of it. The instances of it occurring are, thankfully, a rarity.

I don't think they are completely different; the desperate need to 'control the ruck,' and the tactics developed to do so, have created the conditions in which an attacking player is rag-dolled by a gang of defenders, starting with holding him up so that others can attack his lower body, and ending in an ugly wrestle with the aim of leaving him on his back, with his head facing his own sticks. I've watched wrestle coaches teach players from U8 right through to SL level how to do that; and because it wasn't dealt with by officials from the outset, coaches have continued to employ those tactics and players are getting better and better at it.



No they're not. I'm happy to discuss the point, but not if you're going to be silly.

One for all the "Wigan Haters" www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/disciplinary/item?6413

One for all the "Wigan Haters" www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/disciplinary/item?6413

I noticed in the Wakey v Leigh game a few dodgy/scumbag hits to the back of a player already on his way down to the ground.

Another potentially very dangerous tactic designed to injure that should be eliminated from the game.