NRL coaches' attitude to foul play must change

I'm really starting to feel the game is getting soft. Accidental hits are getting players banned. I used to hear people say this was a tough sport. If a player slips or falls even slightly then it's quite difficult for the attacking player of 100+ kgs to stop his momentum. Players are now missing games because someone falls over.

Shoulder charges are not the problem, it's shoulders (or swinging arms or anything else) to the head that is the problem and that is how it should be assessed.

Someone pointed out to me today that there is inconsistency when the Simon Dwyer big hit on Jared Waerea-Hargreaves last year is called a great shot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ILh-w5LPYo) and the Ben Teo shot is punished, fair point. I think however that shoulder charges to the head or on the chest that ride up accidentally, (accidentally on purpose), should be rubbed out Where is the skill in knocking someones head off ? Its a dog shot. Like people have been saying if you take the risk and get it wrong you get four weeks, that is the way it has to be. The NRL has to protect the players, its not up to the coaches and the players it has to come from the top, player safety must be provided. These huge athletic guys are tough, but not invincible, the game has enough contact without hitting the head. Rugby League is a sport and the spirit of the game is that shots on the head should be punished.

lot of the comments here supporting the tackle appear to caught up in some kind of male macho stuff and some misguided notion that head injuries arent too serious. there is some research coming out now about the negative short and long term effects of brain injury in rugby players and other contact sports such as NFL. Concussion is a brain injury. i dont necessarily want shoulder charges banned but i dont think they are particularly skillful. usually its just some big lug running at someone and then bodies flying. if you perform a shoulder charge and it goes wrong and hits the head you should be held accountable. id rather see a great ball and all tackle or a great tackle around the legs. i recall trevor gillmeister literally cutting someone's legs out from them in a state of origin match. it was so effective the person had no chance of getting the ball away.

It's NOT the NRL Coaches attitude that needs changing...just the rules!

Yes old mate i worry about any head injury. but to my point shoulder charges are meant to do one thing hurt the opponent . And my argument is very credible otherwise it wouldn"t be in the headlines every second week. Myself and a lot of old footy players have been advocating for years to drop the shoulder charge as an option you dont have to shoulder charge to pull of a big hit .And i will never forget how tough the game was .Dropping the shoulder charge will not soften the game any but will lesson the chance of a serious injury.

Thanks for the claification. If contact with the head is made then you sould be punnished. But if you do so make it consistant across the board. Just hate it shoulder charging is singled out. In the end its just like everything else in Rugby League. When done correctly its a spectacular sight, but when things go wrong people can get hurt.

oikee i have been on the ban the shoulder charge for years .But their all accidental arn"t they, the shoulder charge is designed to hurt your opponent nothing else .And i did have some stats from N.S.W. hospitals on recorded rugby league games accross the country from jnr through to seniior compiled in 1992 they would astound you the figures for head injurys was enormous . Its just not first grade that matter its right across the board of senior players accross Australia .But let me assure its a huge deterent for a lot of country players not to carry on playing because of the chance of serious injury stopping them earning a living just for a game . If the trend continues we loose more and more talented players because the risk is to great of a permanent injury its a tackle that can and has caused severe injury .Yes they can be hurt in lots of other ways and thats the risk they take but shoulder charges are only put on to create hurt and thats it.

Thanks. Love you're work too :)

Spot on. People have been saying thoughout these replys that we should be like Union and get rid of shoulder charges, yet in their next sentance mention how the likes of Berrick Barns Elton Flattley constantly get knock out. It also like some of these people don't realise Barns did play League and has recieved alot more concussions since moving to Union. Also, I haven't seen one shred of evidence to show that Union is safer or has less concusions then League because of banning shoulder charges. Like I said in a previous post, a knee jerk reaction from a few PC do gooders.

Well i am not laughing, and 4 weeks is a joke when Manu got off for less, and Prithcard got less, and Teo has no record. This is B.S. Someone has to rewrite the rules of rugby league, nobody knows what is going on, the game is looking like a dogs breakfast. That makes me sound drunk, honest, i have only had one beer. Pritchard i meant.

Yes Steve, this is what i just said mate. The game is now designed to allow for anyone who is good enough to make the big time. Each year not many players have tackles go wrong, and if you count the amount of players who get knocked out going low, i would love to see the statistics on which is more common, yet you are quick to outlaw the accidental shoulder charge, yet the low tackle your happy with. You happy for Dallas Johnson to knock himself rotten every second week, is this what you are saying. They have to go high, go hard, if the tackle goes wrong, it is the coach who has to take the hit. Griffard along with every other coach will defend a accidental highshot. Again, i repeat, he did not intend to hit him in the chin. Looks like he gets 4 weeks for this.

And thats in a game without shoulder chargers.

Well put, i was going to reply, you have done it for me, welcome to the roar, your name should be common sense. ;)

"Toovey’s defence of his player was nothing short of ridiculous". I agree but as a coach you cannot really afford to get the team offside when you are losing matches. Because they may stop playing well for you and your career as coach will be a short one. The only way to eradicate dangerous tackles is to penalise it and send players off for it and suspend them for longer periods. I think any serious contact with the head area aimed at taking the player out of the game deserves time in the bin. But if an attacking player falls into a tackle and they get hit in the head area i do not think the defender should be binned.

So two shoulder charges ended up with players getting knocked out. So tell me Steve, how many other players have been left seeing stars from other inccidents. I bet its a lot more then two. So that takes me to my next point. Why aren't you worried about these other occassions where players get Knocked out? Your argument would be more credible if you spoke up about all incdents that could lead too concussion. To take it even futher, a good tackle around the legs could mean a busted knee or leg that could leave a player incapacitated for the rest of there life. Also, should we stop players falling on each others legs cause they might get a compound leg fracture. I mean that inccident looked a lot worse then the shoulder charges in question. Should we get rid of the playing surface too cause that played a part Yow ye's leg break also. Too poke futher holes in your agrument I'll present Berrick Barnes and Elton Flattley. Both consantly knocked out in a game without shoulder charges. Infact, Berrick recived less concussions when he was playing League. I bet if you compare Union and Legue concussion rates, you wouldn't see much difference. The only way you're going to get people to stopped being knocked out or injured is if they take ALL contact out of Rugby Leauge. And thats what oikee is trying to get at. People are going to get injured no matter what and and too constantly reduce the present form of the game into somthing that doesn't ressmble Rugbly League any more is not the answer. I think its not case of being a neanderthal, just a knee jerk reaction by few PC supporters, former players and reporters who have forgot how rough the game can be. But I'm willing to change my mine Steve. Just show me where Union has less concusions then League due to banning shoulder charges. If they're really that bad the stats shouldn't be that hard to find.

I think people are forgetting that rugby league is, and always has been a contact sport. In contact sports people are occasionally going to get knocked out. Foul play or not, I think we all have to accept the fact that it’s part of rugby league. Of course, when it’s the result of foul play, we have the systems (although far from adequate) in place to deal out punishment. However, to cry for change every time we see a man in no man’s land on the rugby league field is plain ridiculous and screams of a slow news day. Rugby league is a simple game. All you have to do is place a ball in designated zone. To do that, you have to get though an opposition trying to stop you. By its very nature, there will always be risks associated to the players, who understand them all too well. Regardless, if we remove all the possibility of someone getting knocked out in league, it simply won’t be league anymore.

So are you saying Luke that Te'o was coached to tackle players in the head, that Griffin was actually telling players to go knock there head off. Also, by the sounds of it you think Te'o actually tried to knock the players head off. Your seem to be drawing an awful lot of long bows here. If Teo thought he was in the postion to make a safe shoulder charge (which is legal by the way), then why would onus be on him to change his tackle? Rugby league is a tough game and not every thing goes to plan every single tackle. Some sport writers don't seem to realise that.