NRL’s mega 52-strong casualty ward: The three tackle types that must be banned

The NRL has been rocked by a massive 52 long-term injuries already this season, leading to demands for a mass overhaul of rugby league tackling laws.

Cody Ramsey, Jayden Brailey and Adam Doueihi will miss the remainder of the season.

Ban the third man in leg drive tackle, outlaw wrestling coaches and eradicate the ugly hip drop.

These are the strong opinions of respected Sydney sports doctor Nathan Gibbs and leading orthopaedic surgeon, Michael Johnson, after being told there have been 22 long-term knee injuries this season.

“Being tackled, third man-in around the legs, is normally a recipe for disaster,” Gibbs said.

Johnson added: “The hip drop is a tackle I’d like to see out of the game.”

The Daily Telegraph can also reveal the NRL has been dogged with 52 long-term injuries – five weeks or longer - in just six rounds this season.

Nine of those have been season-ending.

“Guys are bigger and stronger than ever before and the game is faster than ever with the new rules,” said leading physiotherapist and injury analyst Brien Seeney.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE EVERY NRL CLUB’S 2023 CASUALTY WARD

“Anything that adds performance - making guys faster and fitter - will more often than not have a side-effect of more traumatic, explosive injuries.”

Wests Tigers star Adam Doueihi sustained a season-ending ACL injury against Parramatta on Monday while Newcastle hooker Jayden Brailey suffered the same unpalatable fate 24 hours earlier against the Warriors.

Doueihi has been crippled by ACL injuries twice previously, Brailey once before.

While all knee injuries haven’t come from the third man drive, Gibbs – a former South Sydney and Parramatta second-rower – wants the tackle “outlawed”.

“The current tackling technique where players hold up the attacking player to prevent the offload and a third player comes in to take out the legs, to slow down the play-the-ball, is a recipe for disaster for knee injuries,” Gibbs said.

“Outlawing the third man-in around the legs would definitely help reduce the risk of lower limb injuries. I would outlaw the tackle.

“That tackle can cause ankle syndesmosis, knee MCL and potentially season-ending ACL injuries, not to mention that it can cause fractures as well.

“Knee injuries are certainly more common early in the season when players are less match fit and their bodies aren’t conditioned to the actual speed of match play.

“This applies to injuries to the ACL where poor co-ordination is a major factor, and also contact injuries where fatigue and poor technique can be a factor.”

Johnson, the former Parramatta Eels doctor, wants the ugly hip drop tackle banished forever.

“If a player (ball carrier) is standing and a player comes from the right side, it can cause a twisting motion to his lower back and also to his knee, which is planted on the ground,” Johnson said.

Cody Ramsey, Jayden Brailey and Adam Doueihi will miss the remainder of the season.

“In that rotation and twist, that is when you’re likely to do some damage to a cartilage or ligament. A twisting of the lower spine can also cause lower back problems. It could break a leg.”

Johnson added: “The days of wrestling coaches should be over. They should be out of the game because of the damage that has occurred over many years to different players. The chicken wing tackle came in with wrestling coaches.”

Seeney also spoke about the third man in tackle and why so many serious injuries were being suffered this season.

“A lot of ankle and knee injuries are the result of a hip-drop, cannon ball and leg drive. The choreography of tackling these days is those first two guys going in up high, holding the player up and slowly everything down,” Seeney said.

“And then the third player coming in and going in a bit lower and getting the player to the ground. Often the ball carrier doesn’t have awareness of where that third player is coming from. It is so planned in how they want to get the player to the ground.

“I definitely think that has contributed to knee and ankle injuries over the past five to ten years.

“In an ideal world I’d love to think there is a way to get rid of it but the hardest part is balancing that performance versus injury risk. It’s a balance between how much does it improve player safety versus how much does it affect the fabric of the game.

“I wouldn’t go as far as to say it should be outlawed but there is a way to do that third man in tackle safely but when you get it wrong, then you should be punished significantly.”

Brailey, Doueihi, Taylan May, Kade Dykes, Dean Ieremia, Beau Fermor, Cody Ramsey, Josh Coric and Valingi Kepu have all suffered season-ending injuries, most from knee dramas.

“Early season, it is definitely more common to have those explosive, traumatic knee injuries, because guys are coming off pre-season and it takes time for the body to acclimatise back to NRL level football,” Seeney said.

“There is also some evidence around about the hardness of the grounds, coming out of summer and the hot months; those hard forces going up through the legs can cause those significant knee injuries.

“We commonly do see more ACL’s in the first 10 to 12 weeks as opposed to the rest of the season.”

It was initially feared Brailey had injured his meniscus and would be out for six weeks but scans have proven the injury to be considerably worse.

Originally published as NRL’s mega 52-strong casualty ward: The three tackle types that must be banned