Ethan Lowe reveals the innocent tackle that potentially ended his rugby league career
South Sydney forward Ethan Lowe is the human face of why all crusher tackles must be outlawed, however innocuous they may seem.
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Ethan Lowe didn’t stay down to milk the penalty. He got up and played on. But looking back now, the rugged South Sydney forward says he knew straight away something was wrong with his neck.
But it was about a week later he got a phone call from a surgeon who told him he needed to go in for immediate surgery.
“It looks pretty serious,” the spinal specialist told Lowe last month.
“You shouldn’t be walking around like this. Let’s go and have surgery straight away.”
Lowe, 29, still doesn’t know if he will ever play rugby league again.
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But with his career in the balance, Lowe is the human face of why all crusher tackles must be outlawed, however innocuous they may seem.
And as controversy erupts over claims Parramatta players were trying to “milk” penalties in Thursday’s 14-0 win over Melbourne, Lowe is also the unfortunate proof why under fire referees should not be forced to play doctor in the heat of battle by determining if a player is injured or not.
While Parramatta’s Marata Niukore was the only player charged on Friday for a crusher tackle, the heated words that erupted between Brad Arthur and Craig Bellamy stole the spotlight away from what is the real issue.
Arthur was furious at suggestions his players were trying to milk penalties, but Bellamy seemed equally indignant: “I think I disagree with Brad on that.”
What Lowe knows for certain is that these type of tackles can go horribly wrong even if they’re not intentional.
Lowe was just taking a regulation hit-up against Newcastle back in round 10 when a Knights’ player put pressure on the back of his neck. To this day he is still not sure who even made the tackle.
“Obviously it wasn’t intentional but it sort of crushed my head down towards my chest,” Lowe recalled.
And after having previous spinal surgery in 2016 after a tackle in a game against Melbourne went horribly wrong, Lowe said his latest injury was even more serious — and it was only luck it didn’t end in a catastrophic injury.
“I had a similar injury before but it wasn’t to this extent,” he explained.
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“It ruptured (a disc between C5 and C6) pretty bad and it was pushing up against my spinal cord.
“So I was getting numbness in my hands and stuff like that.”
Lowe said initially the spinal specialist put off immediate surgery but that changed dramatically.
Lowe said: “The surgeon ended up ringing the day before I was meant to go and have a meeting with him … that was obviously the most scary part, having a surgeon ring up and say, ‘it is pretty bad … you have to go in straight away’.”
Lowe said he could understand the controversy surrounding claims of players milking penalties but he also knew how delicate the neck was.
In his case Lowe didn’t stay down but looking back thinks he would have got a penalty if he did.
“But because I did get up they didn’t look at it again and it was play on,” he added.
“It is a tough one. Obviously you don’t want people to stay down and try and milk penalties. But you also have to have a duty of care to players because it could be something serious.
“The tackle that happened to me was very innocuous but it can go wrong pretty quick.”
Lowe is now back in isolation hoping to return to the South Sydney bubble soon to start his rehab.
He said he had another meeting with his specialist next week and hopefully he could get back playing next season.
But he certainly won’t be playing again this year.
“I am still on no exercise. I can only go for walks and that’s about it,” he said.
A recent study has shown there had been a concerning 50 per cent increase in crusher tackles in the NRL this year.
Originally published as Ethan Lowe reveals the innocent tackle that potentially ended his rugby league career