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The Roar

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KNOW YOUR LAWS: Are slinging, swinging and slamming tackles legal?

Editor
6th April, 2018
0

The image of Gorden Tallis unceremoniously dragging Brett Hodgson across Olympic Park in State of Origin III, 2002 has been replayed over and over year after year. But there’s a new Raging Bull in town to throw people around, however, unlike Tallis, this tackle has a huge question mark hanging over it – is it even legal?

We see players getting flung around all over the place in rugby league, but at what point does it become dangerous? And not just in regards to spear tackles, but physically dumping a player.

According to the Rugby League International Laws of the Game:

Section 11, Note 1
“A tackler must not make use of any special “holds” or “throws” which are likely to cause injury”

Thanks to the ambiguity of the word “special”, this swinging ragdoll-slam… thing, could be classified as illegal.

It’s certainly special to watch, and there’s no denying that the poor little hooker was lucky to escape injury. But all David and Goliath battles are a spectacle and carry a high risk of injury, making this justification shaking at best.

So what about a high tackle?

Section 15, Note 1b
“A player is guilty of misconduct if he, when effecting or attempting to effect a tackle, makes contact with the head or neck of an opponent intentionally, recklessly or carelessly.”

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We can see that the tackler’s arms have come over the shoulders of the ball-carrier in this video, giving the impression of a high tackle. But his arms and hands could be wrapped around the ball, or the ball carrier’s arms.

It’s hard to definitively say that the tackler has intentionally, recklessly or carelessly made contact with the head or neck of the ball-carrier, but it doesn’t look great.

It’s a judgement call from the referee but you could certainly argue that this kind of crazy tackle could very much cause injury and is a bit reckless from the big unit.

So with Club Roar finding a nice seat on the fence, we’ll let you decide in the comments below.

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