What medical evidence? What evidence says shoulder charges that do NOT hit a player in the head need to be outlawed? And if you want them banned you ARE in the minority. The poll on LU has 87% against banning shoulder charges. That's because 87% of RL supporters know that to ban all shoulder charges because some hit players in the head is as stupid as banning ALL tackles because some hit players in the head. Not only that but the players themselves don't want them banned. And if you want to play the "they'll sue" card then every single injury ever caused by any event in any sport could be make sport just as liable. So this crap about litigation is utter nonsense.

Nice one. Generous 6 out of 10.

'Real rugby league people don't have an interest in anything other than Rugby League'!

There's me thinking it would be great for the sport to shed it's insular inward looking image to attract more fans. Of course, real rugby league people [idon't want no outsiders comin round these ere parts[/i!

Brilliant .

Brilliant Post!

nice post well phrased

As Brisbane says, there's no need to ban shoulder charges so long as they're penalised and punished rightly when there is a dangerous shoulder charge.
The Puletua one was the correct decision, unfortunate for Puletua, but if he wants to use his shoulder like that he's going to have to be more careful.

sorry guys this was a good topic ETC taking a 7 day break for swearing and abuse can we get back on topic or it will be locked thank you

Our game is now a summer sport, are you suggesting that we should all go and sit in a cupboard during winter, so that we're not tainted by these other sports. Get real, I've followed my team for 50 years, and see nothing wrong with transferring my allegiance to a local non-league football team whilst my first choice are in off-season. Your opinion seems to be that I, and many like me, are not real rugby league people.

PMSL

Don't worry. The man in the white coat will be here with your meds soon!

Without RU we wouldn't have had players like Tony Myler, Dave Myers, Jonathan Davies, John Devereux, Martin Offiah, Emosi Koloto, Alan Tait, Paul Moriarty et al gracing TGG. That's just at Widnes.

IMO a shoulder charge is very difficult to perform at high speed whilst 'guaranteeing' you don't hit your opponent in the head. That is the reason I believe it should be outlawed........not to mention the fact that a high proportion of these hits result in the player not being held and a gap in the defensive line is opened up for the opposition to exploit. If anyone wants to see these, then maybe they should swith their allegiance to WWE/WWF .

Puletua could quite easily avoided being sent off by just bending his back, poor lazy technique.

I've seen the Greg Inglis one today for the first time and it was an absolute shocker. I like a good shoulder charge as much as anyone but with the speed of todays game the risk of severe injury is something that the RFL and NRL has to consider as player welfare has to be their main priority.

Quite ironic how the new Rugby League Live PS3 / XBox game trailer includes several shoulder charges!!

It's not real!

Agree with everything BR said. Shoulder charges are fine, as long as they aren't high tackles. If they are shots to the head, then they are a straight red card, just as a swinging arm would be.

I do have some sympathy that, much like two-footed challenges in soccer, they should be banned precautionarily. However, I think most players can make a shoulder charge legally, but they will have to be more careful. Head high tackles should carry serious ban time, i.e. 5-6 games, rather than the 1 or 2 they get at the moment.

What i'm more concerned about atm is tip-tackles, where we've seen a few go unpunished in the last year. These are incredibly dangerous, and should be given the automatic penalty of straight red cards, even if players pull them off ok. The Jeff Lima tackle on Brett Delaney in last years CC final, for instance, was an absolute shocker, with not even a penalty given.