Is there any data on the causes of the injuries being made?

Without knowing the specifics as to what causes the most injuries, we can't really know what would be best to change. Otherwise we get stuck in arguments such as the impact vs tiredness arguments with subs; big/late hits or pressures on joints etc, without any real evidence either way.

I agree that it is in the nature of RL to have injuries, however it is a duty to ensure the maximum protection of players without drastically altering the nature.

The extra padding is causing MORE injuries in the NFL, specifically concussions which is a major problem in the NFL at the minute.

Reducing the number of games would be the best way to reduce injuries, 27 league games + cup + playoffs is too much imo.

League weekly puts a suggestion in somewhere this week about reducing the 10 metres defenders retreat to 5 metres. Meaning less of a run up for the big hits, therefore less impact injuries.

It seems to be players getting knee and ankle injuries though, would these be caused by impact injuries? you'd think they'd be more upper body really like dislocated shoulders. I know when I've knackered my knee up in the past it was because I twisted funny, and my ankle injuries only ever happen when I go over on it at an awkward angle.

Short of wrapping all the players in cotton wool and banning any form of contact I don't think we can reasonably expect to reduce injuries in what is a full contact sport.

Banning Wigan would probably cut about 93.45% of the injuries in Super League.

As has been said it's not high impact that is particularly causing the injuries it's the twisting and wrestling in the tackle that's the problem. A combined push from the RFL and coaches to reduce the amount of wrestling and pressure put on attackers joints alongside a quicker held call from refs and a reduction in the amount of interchanges I think would be the best way forward.

I don't know if there are actually more injuries than previously or if because the squads are smaller we are noticing them more?

Also if there are more is it due to the game being a summer game and playing on harder, unforgiving grounds that studs have little or no penetration against? Hull City Council remover Rugby Posts through the summer months due to the grounds being too hard for the game to be played and they see this as a risk. Maybe they are right and the summer move has been a bad decision for players health?

Other changes in the game which may contribute to more injuries is the interchange rules. Players are going from being warm and supple to sitting on a bench allowing their muscles to cool and then being thrust back in to a fast paced game with little or no warm up. When you think a player does around 20-30 minutes pre-match warm up but muscles do not stay warm for long. This too must have some effect when previously players were expected to play 80 minutes with only one or two substitutes and once you were off you could cool down and allow your muscles to relax, thus reducing risk of injury.

The other thing that has already been mentioned are the wrestling tactics. The ways players are keeping players held up, dropped to the floor and then using levers to force the attackers on to their back to slow the ptb down are certainly seeing the sport having more shoulder and neck problems.

Impact as stated has little effect on a player getting injured, there are the occasional concussions but this could happen when clashing heads with a member of your own team so I don't think it is something the sport needs to worry too much about.

The answer is not a simple one. We can't go back to winter rugby for obvious reasons, it would be difficult the way the game is now played to go back to substitutions instead of interchanges although giving a team 5 or 6 subs rather than 10-12 interchanges would maybe allow for more youngsters to come through and reduce the amount of muscular injuries? And other than making head guards compulsory I can't see any other way the RFL could reduce concussion injuries.

I think a big one though would be increasing squad sizes to around 30 and with that increasing the salary cap to accomodate those extra 5 players. (Are there 70 extra players of SL quality to go around??).

I agree with the reduction of subs. Make it 6, people are on longer and get more tired, reduces the impact, and incrfeases the impact of smaller faster players along with 60 minute work horses.

Agreed, that if reduction in injury is what you want, slowing the game down by reducing subs is the most common sense way of doing it. I still don't think it should happen though.

But with 6 subs you are likely to have 4 interchange props each doing a 20min spell, an interchange hooker each doing a half with a final utility player in case of injury or an abysmal performance by a starting player.

This would not slow the game down, it is highly likely to increase the tempo and be much more tactical. The added bonus of reducing injuries is certainly something that could be looked at and possibly a trial of some sorts could be done.

Reduce the number of games a player can play in a season down to a given figure. Say 25.
That would mean more of the 25 man squad would have to be used on a regular basis, it would give the younger players more first team experience.

Quote: Richie "More padding can be counter productive. Just imagine what the sport would be like if players were padded up like American footballers - it would be carnage, with full speed hits being delivered with hardened helmets and shoulder pads.'" Read a study a while ago (some of their methods do perhaps warrent closer inspection) into this very point. whilst american footballers generally hit each other 'harder' as it were, the amounts of padding worn by the players involved generally results in less force being transfered to the man being tackled than is the case in rugby league, it also makes hitting the ground a generally less painful affair than it is in rugby league. they concluded that american footballers generally have more energetic collisions but rugby league is generally the more damaging of the two, with more 'efficient' energy transfers in tackles. thats what i read anyway. Gronk! is correct also, in that all that 'Armour' is almost certainly causing a lot of injuries in itself. its restrictive and prevents your skeleton and connective tissues moving with and absorbing impacts the way they are (for want of a more apt term) designed to do. specifically on the subject at hand, i believe this will make interesting reading bjsm.bmj.com/content/37/1/36.full

Quote: Richie "More padding can be counter productive. Just imagine what the sport would be like if players were padded up like American footballers - it would be carnage, with full speed hits being delivered with hardened helmets and shoulder pads.'" Read a study a while ago (some of their methods do perhaps warrent closer inspection) into this very point. whilst american footballers generally hit each other 'harder' as it were, the amounts of padding worn by the players involved generally results in less force being transfered to the man being tackled than is the case in rugby league, it also makes hitting the ground a generally less painful affair than it is in rugby league. they concluded that american footballers generally have more energetic collisions but rugby league is generally the more damaging of the two, with more 'efficient' energy transfers in tackles. thats what i read anyway. Gronk! is correct also, in that all that 'Armour' is almost certainly causing a lot of injuries in itself. its restrictive and prevents your skeleton and connective tissues moving with and absorbing impacts the way they are (for want of a more apt term) designed to do. specifically on the subject at hand, i believe this will make interesting reading bjsm.bmj.com/content/37/1/36.full

Ban offloads and only allow tackling below the waist......

Hodgson Phillips L, Standen PJ, Batt ME. Effects of seasonal change in rugby league on the incidence of injury. Br J Sports Med1998;32:144–8.[ bjsm.bmj.com/content/32/2/144.ab ... f_ipsecsha that may also prove interesting to some of you. there are also some other possibilities cited in the study i linked in my previous post, both on the matter of summer rugby and its effect upon injury rates and types and also others focusing upon the effects of the superleague era etc.

Hodgson Phillips L, Standen PJ, Batt ME. Effects of seasonal change in rugby league on the incidence of injury. Br J Sports Med1998;32:144–8.[ bjsm.bmj.com/content/32/2/144.ab ... f_ipsecsha that may also prove interesting to some of you. there are also some other possibilities cited in the study i linked in my previous post, both on the matter of summer rugby and its effect upon injury rates and types and also others focusing upon the effects of the superleague era etc.