Semi-professional state of NRLW a possible cause of large number of knee injuries

The NRLW has been hit hard by a spate of serious knee injuries and a leading strength and conditioning coach has revealed the factors behind the worrying figures.

Knights star Sheridan Gallagher will miss the next couple of weeks with a knee injury she suffered in Sunday’s loss to the Dragons.

The prolific try-scorer battled through after copping a knock to the knee, but will be sidelined for Saturday’s blockbuster with the Sharks and a round five clash with Parramatta at least.

Sydney Roosters star Jess Sergis also sent a scare through the NRLW after she was pictured in a full leg brace as an extra precaution to keep her on the field to face St George Illawarra on Sunday.

It comes after a weekend of carnage across the NRLW for serious knee injuries in particular, the extent of which won’t be fully known until the end of the season.

But clubs are on high alert after just three rounds.

Three players across the weekend were ruled out of the rest of the year, with Wests Tigers skipper Kezie Apps (PCL), rookie winger Harmony Crichton (ACL) and Knights star Caitlin Johnston (MCL) adding to an unfortunate list of season ending knee injuries.

Knee injuries for the Tigers NRLW:

- Kezie Apps knee into ground mechanism, brings concern for PCL injury (best case bone bruise)
- Harmony Crichton off after just 5 minutes, appeared to be non-contact/direction change in nature. Fingers crossed more kneecap/meniscus than ACL pic.twitter.com/XofBrpNU3n

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) August 11, 2024

The list has now grown to nine across the pre-season and the first three rounds, four of which are ACLs specifically.

Part of the problem is the semi-professional state of the NRLW, where coaches have limited time with an athlete to prevent avoidable problems.

But it’s just one factor in a complicated issue.

“There’s literature to prove that female athletes are six times more likely to suffer an ACL rupture than their male counterparts,” says Simon Buxton, NRL’s head of elite female performance.

“There are intrinsic and extrinsic factors with female athletes.

“Intrinsic things are unchangeables, like anatomy, physiology, hormones, menstrual cycle, all those things coaches can’t change.

“Extrinsic factors are changeables, and they’re things that performance people and coaches can change.

“Running mechanics, biomechanics, rate of force development, reactive strength , balance, co-ordination.

“They’re things we can change, but the NRLW is not professional yet, And it’s difficult for coaches and strength and conditioning coaches to pour all that work into them and change those things when the season is so short.

“It’s the same problem in AFLW.

“Once they’re more professional, strength and conditioning coaches and rugby league coaches will be in front of athletes face-to-face to give them more training and pour more work into them to change those things that can be changed.”

Newcastle star Sheridan Gallagher is the latest NRLW player to succumb to a knee injury.

Non-contact ACLs like Crichton’s are where the biggest change can happen in the NRLW once the game is professional.

But at the moment, players are coming into the women’s game without the advantage of years of consistent athletic development, and that will take time with a new generation of players.

Heading into round four there is no way to know if the list of season ending knee injuries will be higher this season than last.

Those numbers begin to be collated in the next few weeks before a report is prepared at the end of the year.

However, data from the NRL shows the rate of ACL injuries in particular has been consistent across the past few seasons.

“Clubs do the best they can with the time they have with the athletes,” says Buxton.