Re: Death of rugby league part 2 : Sat Dec 09, 2023 3:12 pm  

Tom Johnstone his concussion was caused by banging his head on the floor I think. You can't protect players from everything some concussions are just accidental.

Re: Death of rugby league part 2 : Sat Dec 09, 2023 7:27 pm  

When I first played rugby at secondary school back in the early sixties we were always taught to tackle round the legs and by and large that was the ethos in the senior game. Above waist tackles were a bit of a rarity. Over the years tackles got higher and higher until round the neck and upper body tackles appear to be the norm. It was much more exciting to see a player perform a flying leg tackle than to watch three or more defenders reaching out to grab the opposite player's collar or hug their shoulder. Perhaps coaches should emphasise the leg tackle once again.

Re: Death of rugby league part 2 : Sat Dec 09, 2023 8:19 pm  

poplar cats alive wrote:

Tom Johnstone his concussion was caused by banging his head on the floor I think. You can't protect players from everything some concussions are just accidental.

His recurrences maybe but I reckon that headshot from Willie Isa back at the start of 2021 started the problems.

Re: Death of rugby league part 2 : Sat Dec 09, 2023 8:46 pm  

Redscat wrote:

When I first played rugby at secondary school back in the early sixties we were always taught to tackle round the legs and by and large that was the ethos in the senior game. Above waist tackles were a bit of a rarity. Over the years tackles got higher and higher until round the neck and upper body tackles appear to be the norm. It was much more exciting to see a player perform a flying leg tackle than to watch three or more defenders reaching out to grab the opposite player's collar or hug their shoulder. Perhaps coaches should emphasise the leg tackle once again.

Leg tackles generally mean you are conceding contact and are promoting a quick play the ball for the opposition. They also increase the chances of an offload.

The game would have to change massively as a sport for the leg tackle to be the norm.

Re: Death of rugby league part 2 : Sat Dec 09, 2023 8:54 pm  

Redscat wrote:

When I first played rugby at secondary school back in the early sixties we were always taught to tackle round the legs and by and large that was the ethos in the senior game. Above waist tackles were a bit of a rarity. Over the years tackles got higher and higher until round the neck and upper body tackles appear to be the norm. It was much more exciting to see a player perform a flying leg tackle than to watch three or more defenders reaching out to grab the opposite player's collar or hug their shoulder. Perhaps coaches should emphasise the leg tackle once again.

Same as me, and that was in the 80s through to the 90s and just to add I played both codes as well, and we practiced hitting the tackle bags or proper game practice the same way by all sets of coaches in both codes through the years.

Even though we see some great textbook tackles, usually when a back's been put through a gap in the defensive line, and then either the fullback or winger comes across and wraps his legs up and takes him into touch they're few and far between.

In SL It's got gradually worse since more and more Aussie coaches started coming over and teaching their defensive tactics from the NRL, because down under controlling the ruck speed and therefore the defense is what their game is built on. But let's be honest, if we hadn't moved with the times we'd have been left further behind than we appear to be as a competition. Gonna be interesting when the players get used to the new way of tackling and then the next game we'll be playing down under or even against Samoa, how's it all gonna fit together at the international level?

Re: Death of rugby league part 2 : Sat Dec 09, 2023 9:08 pm  

Any body fancy a game of touch and pass.

Re: Death of rugby league part 2 : Sun Dec 10, 2023 8:32 am  

These new laws are knee jerk and clearly meeting an agenda. Why not simply clamp down harder on head shots and off the ball hits when the body is relaxed, a bunker system would police this instead of these embarrassing new rules. Players are very conditioned for high impact, strengthening of neck muscles is proven to help prevent concussion, what it doesn’t protect is lazy/dirty high tackles and off the ball shots. I wish common sense would prevail.

Re: Death of rugby league part 2 : Sun Dec 10, 2023 9:19 am  

Pat Bateman wrote:

.....what it doesn’t protect is lazy/dirty high tackles and off the ball shots.

Always been illegal.

Re: Death of rugby league part 2 : Sun Dec 10, 2023 9:32 am  

Khlav Kalash wrote:

Always been illegal.

Yes exactly, so like I say a bunker system like the NRL have that will catch the ones that are consistently missed throughout a game.

Re: Death of rugby league part 2 : Sun Dec 10, 2023 9:42 am  

Pat Bateman wrote:

Yes exactly, so like I say a bunker system like the NRL have that will catch the ones that are consistently missed throughout a game.

So there is no point bringing in new rules to legislate against it then. Concussion will continue to happen, it's impossible to prevent, even if no contact at all was brought into the game. What this is a a repsone to only having one company who will insure the players. They will have put an onus on the RFL to reduce head knocks from foul play, accidental clashes are unavoidable.