Monday Buzz: NRL is experiencing hamstring injury crisis, Nathan Cleary and Tom Trbojevic added to staggering casualty list

The number of hamstring injuries in 2024 has more than doubled compared to the same stage in previous years. PHIL ROTHFIELD breaks down the staggering casualty list and injury experts have their say on the crisis.

The NRL is experiencing a hamstring injury crisis

The NRL is dealing with a hamstring injury crisis that has sidelined not only superstars Nathan Cleary, Tom Trbojevic and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow but double the number of players as in previous years.

Try-scoring machines Xavier Coates, Alex Johnston and Murray Taulagi are among those who have broken down in a worrying trend that needs investigating by NRL medical experts.

Between 2018 and 2023 the NRL had an average of only 23 hamstring injuries over a full season.

This year, 20 times, players have succumbed to ‘hammys’ in just 10 rounds.

And they’re only the on-field incidents – another 12 have broken down at training or in the trials with hamstring strains, including the Warriors’ former Dally M champion Roger Tuivasa-Sheck on Friday.

The look of despair on the faces of champions Cleary and Trbojevic over the weekend said it all.

Nathan Cleary leaving the field injured on Friday night. Picture: NRL Photos

Manly star Tom Trbojevic has had a luckless run with injury after suffering another hamstring issue against the Dolphins on Friday. Picture: NRL Images.

It has become a huge concern with State of Origin fast approaching and the NSW Blues facing a full campaign without Trbojevic and Cleary.

Scans have revealed Trbojevic will be sidelined for seven weeks.

Cleary suffered a hamstring strain for the second time this year against the Bulldogs on Friday night and is gone for eight weeks.

All other injuries are on par with previous seasons.

The sports science experts around the game are now trying to find out why the ‘hammys.’

Brien Seeney, the well-respected NRL Physio on social media, says it could be weather related.

“With wet weather the surface obviously becomes softer and has more give and gets chopped up,” he said.

“Most people think this increases the risk of players injuring their knees or ankles, but it’s actually muscle strains that we see increase.

“The leg muscles have to work harder to propel players over the softer surface at high speeds, which results in more load and strain in a game.”

In the past rule changes have been blamed for any injury increase.

Yet there has been nothing this year that has brought more fatigue into the game, although ‘six-agains’ have increased slightly by almost one per game.

Ball-in-play statistics are much the same as last year.

The NRL’s head-of-football Graeme Annesley and RLPA boss Clint Newton are monitoring the situation.

“Player safety is a major priority for the commission,” Annesley said.

“The NRL maintains a database that logs all injuries resulting in players missing games and the collated data is provided to clubs so medical and high-performance staff can analyse trends including the type and frequency of injuries.”

Newton said: “We’re always keen to look at trends and whether problems like this can be attributed to something that can be remedied.

“It’s going to require consultation with high performance units. We rely on their expertise to effectively manage play workloads.”