In the big SCG match on the weekend, Dragons’ winger Brett Morris had his foot stuck underneath two or three bodies as a Souths player scored.
It made my eyes water as the replays kept rolling on! How his foot didn’t shatter is a miracle and it got me thinking, how are there not more incidents of serious injury in footy?
To read more Brian Smith, outside The Roar, check out his website SmithySpeaks.
Alex McKinnon’s injury has made everyone more aware of the need to make an incredibly tough and risky sport as safe as possible.
However, our game’s authorities have performed a very strong role instigating massive changes motivated by player safety over the decades I have been enjoying it.
Blaming people for any accidental injury is very poor form. Rugby league is such a tough sport to play at any level and as long as players are playing it in a good spirit and administrators are making well thought-out decisions to make it as safe as possible – while still allowing for that strong, physical competitiveness to shine through – no one should be taking pot-shots.
To not factor in the professionalism of the past 30 to 40 years when assessing this rare and tragic accident is to disregard sports science and medicine.
Just look at what the players are physically capable of every time we watch them play. The game’s competitiveness has been propelled by finding new and faster ways to play. Deeper analysis of plays and players has re-set targets almost weekly so that every single aspect of preparation and performance is challenged – can we do it better or more often?
From time to time, this has led to trends that do not enhance the fans’ viewing. Our administrators have quickly adjusted, upgraded and modernised.
But to suggest these changes led to this freak occurrence is to suggest that improving the rubber of the tyres of an F1 car made it go faster and therefore led to some freak motor sport accident that injured or even killed a driver.
Let’s not be afraid of it – there needs to be another change made to the rules of footy, but to suggest it will completely remove any further accidental injury of a serious kind is absurd. It is just what is needed now to make the game safer.
The specific change we need to make now to tackling is to take the position of a tackler’s hand out from between the legs of the tackled player. If a player pulls the leg of a tackled player – such as takes his opponent’s foot off the ground – a penalty should be awarded immediately.
For any player joining a tackle in progress this would mean instead of grabbing and tending to lift the leg of the tackled player, he would finish on the ground with his opponent, arms around his legs or hips.
A tackler would need to make a driving-type action or simply wrap his arms and slide down the tackled player’s legs, but always start with contact above the knees.
It’s simple enough, not too tough to identify for the ref and might remove those last few bits of what complicates the roles of multiple tacklers.
Gonads At Large
Guest
Yeah, that was an AFL game in Albury.
Johnny g
Guest
Meant to say rugby league is already the toughest game on the planet
Johnny g
Guest
See I think you are trivialising what actually happened, Mckinnon was pinned and lifted and driven onto his head it was careless and reckless. Also the lifting and driving was intentional and most importantly ILLEGAL !! Mcleans intention was obviously not to cause such severe injury ,but when you lift another player to drive them into the ground you are trying to hurt them are you not ? The. Bottom line is that it was an illegal tackle. If a young driver is speeding doing 120 in a 60 zone and cleans someone up ,sure it's an accident but the law is being broken and it's there for a reason to prevent this sort of thing happening .Nobody wants that young driver to hurt someone or suffer the consequences of how he will feel for the rest of his life if he does do some severe damage to someone . Highlighting that this was an accident over and over is a way of lightening what actually happened . I think the rugby league community need to face that this was a dangerous illegal tackle where a player intentionally lifted another player and drove him onto his head ,not to crucify Mclean he is I'm sure suffering quite enough because of the regret and sadness he must be feeling for Mckinnons injury,but rather to face the fact that these dangerous tackles are allowed to go on and even coached . Todd Greenberg puffing his chest out about the concussion rules being enforced but still players got away with more of these dangerous lifting spearing tackles on the weekend .Why not banned immediately .And the player who made those dangerous tackles on the weekend should get 7 weeks automatically and see how quickly these tackles disappear from the game . There seems to be this dinosaur attitude that putting in and enforcing some rules that would eliminate these dangerous illegal tackles would somehow water down the game .....this is ridiculous ,it isn't he toughest game on the planet ,we don't need shoulder charges to the head and we don't need lifting spearing tackles ,these are not tough they are cheap shots that injure players,and the players need to be protected from these sorts of tackles. So rules and enforcing them will stop " accidents". Greenberg needs to have some courage and put player safety first .
Johnny g
Guest
See I think you are trivialising what actually happened, Mckinnon was pinned and lifted and driven onto his head it was careless and reckless. Also the lifting and driving was intentional and most importantly ILLEGAL !! Mcleans intention was obviously not to cause such severe injury ,but when you lift another player to drive them into the ground you are trying to hurt them are you not ? The. Bottom line is that it was an illegal tackle. If a young driver is speeding doing 120 in a 60 zone and cleans someone up ,sure it's an accident but the law is being broken and it's there for a reason to prevent this sort of thing happening .Nobody wants that young driver to hurt someone or suffer the consequences of how he will feel for the rest of his life if he does do some severe damage to someone . Highlighting that this was an accident over and over is a way of lightening what actually happened . I think the rugby league community need to face that this was a dangerous illegal tackle where a player intentionally lifted another player and drove him onto his head ,not to crucify Mclean he is I'm sure suffering quite enough because of the regret and sadness he must be feeling for Mckinnons injury,but rather to face the fact that these dangerous tackles are allowed to go on and even coached . Todd Greenberg puffing his chest out about the concussion rules being enforced but still players got away with more of these dangerous lifting spearing tackles on the weekend .Why not banned immediately .And the player who made those dangerous tackles on the weekend should get 7 weeks automatically and see how quickly these tackles disappear from the game . There seems to be this dinosaur attitude that putting in and enforcing some rules that would eliminate these dangerous illegal tackles would somehow water down the game .....this is ridiculous ,it isn't he toughest game on the planet ,we don't need shoulder charges to the head and we don't need lifting spearing tackles ,these are not tough they are cheap shots that injure players,and the players need to be protected from these sorts of tackles. So rules and enforcing them will stop " accidents". Greenberg needs to have some courage and put player safety first .
Johnny g
Guest
See I think you are trivialising what actually happened, Mckinnon was pinned and lifted and driven onto his head it was careless and reckless. Also the lifting and driving was intentional and most importantly ILLEGAL !! Mcleans intention was obviously not to cause such severe injury ,but when you lift another player to drive them into the ground you are trying to hurt them are you not ? The. Bottom line is that it was an illegal tackle. If a young driver is speeding doing 120 in a 60 zone and cleans someone up ,sure it's an accident but the law is being broken and it's there for a reason to prevent this sort of thing happening .Nobody wants that young driver to hurt someone or suffer the consequences of how he will feel for the rest of his life if he does do some severe damage to someone . Highlighting that this was an accident over and over is a way of lightening what actually happened . I think the rugby league community need to face that this was a dangerous illegal tackle where a player intentionally lifted another player and drove him onto his head ,not to crucify Mclean he is I'm sure suffering quite enough because of the regret and sadness he must be feeling for Mckinnons injury,but rather to face the fact that these dangerous tackles are allowed to go on and even coached . Todd Greenberg puffing his chest out about the concussion rules being enforced but still players got away with more of these dangerous lifting spearing tackles on the weekend .Why not banned immediately .And the player who made those dangerous tackles on the weekend should get 7 weeks automatically and see how quickly these tackles disappear from the game . There seems to be this dinosaur attitude that putting in and enforcing some rules that would eliminate these dangerous illegal tackles would somehow water down the game .....this is ridiculous ,it isn't he toughest game on the planet ,we don't need shoulder charges to the head and we don't need lifting spearing tackles ,these are not tough they are cheap shots that injure players,and the players need to be protected from these sorts of tackles. So rules and enforcing them will stop " accidents". Greenberg needs to have some courage and put player safety first .
planko
Roar Guru
There was one on the weekend before last I believe in a AFL game. In the bush. I will look into and post if I find it again,
Gonads At Large
Guest
These serious neck injuries all happened in rugby league tackles. Not "freak occurrences". Greenfield's happened in shoulder charge. McKinnon's from lifting. That's two that could have been avoided.
Storm Boy
Guest
Aren't they all different in how they happened? There is no rule change you could make to stop those examples.
Gonads At Large
Guest
And another...Michael Greenfield broke his neck in 2011 after a Ben Te'o shoulder charge. Forced into retirement at age 26. That's five broken necks in the last three seasons. Freakish occurrence?
Gonads At Large
Guest
I'm not sure that it's correct to call serious spinal cord injuries in rugby league "freak occurrences". Richard Fa'aoso broke his neck last year as did Sam McKendry. Daniel Conn was forced to retire at age 25 in 2011 with a neck injury that required major surgery to fuse his spine. Ben Ross badly damaged a disc and two vertebrae in 2009. The 15-year-old grandson (Jake Kedzlie) of Tommy Raudonikis was killed playing rugby league last year. Simon Dwyer in 2011 was forced to retire with irreversible damage to neck and shoulder nerves. Brent Tate broke his neck in 2003. In May 2012, Josh Galea, 23, playing rugby league for Tumut broke his neck. There's been plenty of spinal injuries in England, too.
Sleemo
Guest
Sorry mate, but there are 17 laws of the game of football (soccer), one of which states that it is an offence if a player "handles the ball deliberately" - intent is definitely a relevant factor there.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
I don't have a soccer ref's badge either so I'll have to take your word on the handball thing, but I have never seen an "unintentional handball" called. The main point I am trying to make is that when soccer players, fans and coaches blow up at referees it seems to be for making the wrong call or for not making a call they should've made. In league, the players, fans and coaches argue WHETHER the call was right and often it is fifty-fifty. of course there will always be ambiguity, but I think often there is too much of it in League that doesn't need to be there. Think how often a 2-on-1 strip gets called when it could just as easily been called a loose carry.
planko
Guest
I am surprised they have not renamed rugby union to 50/50 .... Is he on his feet ? Did he release early enough yadda yadda yadda
brian smith
Guest
No Johnno. I enjoyed the experience very much of being on the inside a different sport. No surprise Brumbies doing well again in 2014 or that Jake White's Sharks are also. Class acts!
brian smith
Guest
Epiquin i have no soccer badge for refereeing but i do know that what you have written about handball is incorrect. I also know that soccer fans are some of the most volatile towards referees because of decisions they make as it is such a difficult game to referee. There is and always will be ambiguity or judgement calls by match officials in veery team sport i can think of. try Rugby Union!
brian smith
Guest
Planko appreciate your points of view and they are difficult to argue against. Disagree strongly though with your comment re the judiciary and courts of law. Some similarities but also many big differences.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
The problem with a lot of League's rules is the massive grey area, and not just in regards to fouls. for example, there's too much ambiguous language with words like "intent" and "control" being used. Seriously, how is anyone other than the player himself supposed to know whether he intended to lift a player or not, or whether he intended to strip the ball, or whether he was playing at the loose ball? What exactly constitutes "control" of the ball. I once heard it suggested that one of the key reasons Football (soocer) has such a high participation rate worldwide is because there are only 11 basic laws of the game and they are black and white. A handball is a handball whether the player intended to touch it or not. The most ambiguous rulings are fouls related to dangerous conduct, which has lead to diving by players. League needs to begin the process of taking ambiguity out of the rules. It won't be an easy task, but it must be done.
planko
Guest
I enjoy reading your articles Brian I just think this particulartopic is more sad than any I have commented on before. I don't think the tackle was even to close to being "bad". To me this fall under same analogy problem that bad things happen to nice people. People in the real world do get punished differently dependant on outcome of their actions. This tackle was illegal in the game. The outcome almost the worst possible scenario. The judiciary is based on and it's processes are based on the courts. This is to minimise the chance of over rule should it's rulings get questioned in the courts. I am happy with the outcome of 7 weeks but both parties need to be looked after by the game. IMO
Epiquin
Roar Guru
Also, how many families go skiiing every year, despite the many serious injuries and even deaths suffered by skiiers each year e.g. Schuemacher?
Epiquin
Roar Guru
Didn't McLean get 7 weeks for the tackle on Mackinnon? Wasn't it three weeks for the lift and four extra weeks for the injury? Doesn't this punishment suggest that Mackinnon's injury was caused as a direct result of McLean's actions i.e. he was accused and found guilt of causing his injury?