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It took 24 days for the NRL to react to Newcastle Knight Alex McKinnon’s neck fractures in an illegal spear tackle against the Storm. The incident went beyond the “tragic” and “accidental” description.
McKinnon fractured his C4 and C5 vertebrae in a spear tackle by Stormer Jordan McLean on March 23, his mobility future under a huge cloud.
Yesterday the NRL’s head of football Todd Greenberg didn’t come out with any changes to the spear tackle law, but he did make it crystal clear the referees and the judiciary will take a harder line on the practice.
But why 24 days?
All Greenberg said yesterday, in essence, was: “If by luck (the tackled player) rolls out of a spear tackle, or puts his forearm down, that is not an excuse to get out of a dangerous tackle charge.”
“(Defending) players need to be aware that the onus of responsibility is on them,” Greenberg added.
That’s an excellent clarification of what is so bleeding obvious.
Any defender lifting a ball-carrier above the horizontal deserves to be charged, irrespective of the outcome of the tackle.
Having done the right thing with the clarification, Greenberg – one of the code’s very best administrators – then blew his plus out of the water.
“Lifting tackles are here to stay,” he added.
“There’s a lot of lifting tackles that are clearly safe.”
Like hell.
Any lifting beyond the horizontal is clearly a potential disaster.
Which begs the question: why allow a lift at all? It’s not necessary. It should be banned altogether with an immediate penalty, an immediate red card, and followed by a two-month suspension and a $10,000 fine.
Lifting would disappear overnight, even for the moronic.
I add the latter because since the McKinnon’s lift by McLean, there must have been at least 20 lifts since, and I haven’t seen every minute of every game.
Some of the lifts were penalised, others ignored.
After the ramifications of the McKinnon spear, what would possess any defender to lift? That’s beyond my comprehension.
That’s where there’s a fine line between endemic and moronic.
McLean copped a seven-week suspension, which led to the Storm’s super coach Craig Bellamy tendering his resignation in disgust to the way the NRL handled the incident.
Fortunately the Storm refused Bellamy’s request, but feelings have been running high ever since in many areas.
Greenberg went part way to clearing the air, until he added his over-rider that lifting is here to stay.
Bad call. Lifting should be banned altogether, so there wouldn’t be any areas of grey, just plain back and white.
The KISS formula works wonders. But if a law isn’t simple, then the moronic can’t be blamed for breaking the law.
But not all rugby league laws are adhered to anyway, take the scrum. The law clearly says the ball must be fed into the centre tunnel
The last time I recall seeing that was sometime in the Ken Kearney-Ian Walsh era, when most Roarers weren’t even born.
Having said that, bad feeding doesn’t endanger players’ health nor their lives, lifting does.
Make another statement Todd Greenberg, categorically banning lifting above the horizontal for good.
Sooner rather than later, rugby league will get it right before a player has to die to ban lifting.