Opinion
The NRL has labelled the number of charges being levelled at players for contact with the head as unacceptable.
Several players have already been sanctioned for illegal contact with the head and neck in the opening two weeks of the season.
Plans are underway to address perceived inconsistencies with how offenders are punished on the field.
Such focus looks at the symptoms of the problem, instead of its underlying cause.
The risk of blows to players’ heads stem from the laws encouraging players to tackle the high upper body.
When a defender tackles a player around the legs he must release almost immediately or inevitably prompt a tackle count restart.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
However, if a ball carrier is being held above the waist the defenders are given seemingly infinite more leeway to wrestle, twist, turn and lie on the opposition.
Aiming for the high upper body sees defenders flirt with the danger of slightly miscalculating their hit and making contact with the head and/or neck.
What if the game rewarded players to go low?
What if the game allowed a defender, whom after making a tackle around the legs or waist, to hold the ball carrier for a standard two to three seconds?
Defenders would be rewarded and be less inclined to aim their arms anyway near a player’s head.
Asked whether the NRL was concerned by the number of charges levelled at players for illegal contact with the head, NRL head of football Graham Annesley told The Sydney Morning Herald: “It’s early in the season and you can put a bit of it down to bad timing and not a lot of match conditioning, but having said that it is still unacceptable and there are no excuses for it.”
I think there are excuses.
The NRL have failed to reward low tackling techniques.
In response players and coaches have resorted to various upper body tackling techniques causing issues the NRL are complaining about.
The rules encourage defences to tackle high even if it means risking a head blow.
Why wouldn’t a coach instruct his players to tackle high then wrestle and twist the opposition when he knows tackling low will mean his players must release almost instantly or risk a six again or even a sin binning?
Whose fault is it that legislates for ball carriers to submit into tackles on their knees or torso allowing lightning speed play-the-balls giving defences next to no chance to recover for the next tackle?
These sound like valid reasons for a fixation on upper body tackling.
Talking about strengthening penalties read well on a media release but will only achieve so much.
Defences need another way to counterbalance attack without having to resort to high hits and wrestling.
Lower tackling achieves this.
The NRL needs to incentivise it.
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