‘Going to cause a s***fight’: New Storm tackling technique called out after injury blows

Paul Kent has highlighted a tackling technique employed by the Melbourne Storm which resulted in the injury of two Cowboys stars.

Kyle Feldt and Jason Taumalolo tackle

NRL360 host Paul Kent has questioned a new tackling technique employed by the Melbourne Storm which resulted in knee injuries of two Cowboys players.

Jason Taumalolo and Kyle Feldt left the field in Round 11 and both are set to miss the club’s crucial clash against the Panthers.

Feldt’s injury was significantly worse than his captain’s and will miss six weeks with an MCL tear.

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In vision of both tackles shown on NRL360, Storm player Brandon Smith makes first contact, diving at the region between the knee and hip and driving one direction.

Then his Melbourne teammates join the tackle up high, moving towards the other direction, forcing the ballrunner to twist at the knee.

Speaking on NRL360, Kent revealed the Cowboys noticed the tackling technique while NRL head of football Graham Annesley said there was nothing wrong with it.

“That is a particularly nasty one, Kyle Feldt will do six weeks, when I spoke to Graham Annesley today he said the match review panel looked at it, they basically have come back with the decision in the old days you would just call them good legs tackle,” Kent said.

“But the concern, always the delicate part, the concern is he is hitting low just above the knee a fraction of a second before they are getting hit from above and they are getting twisted back over the top of him.

Kyle Feldt and Jason Taumalolo tackled by the Storm. Photo: Fox Sports.

“That is putting pressure through the knee which has resulted in two medial ligament tears.

“I spoke to the Cowboys who were reluctant to talk specifically about it, they certainly noticed it during the game and thought this is an odd way to tackle, the fact that he was so low with so much drive.”

Kent believes the NRL may need to move to outlaw the technique, as it has done with the shoulder charge and crusher tackle.

“It is not the old traditional legs tackle where you basically hit and wrap around, it is more a drive through then when you combine the fact they are being hit from the other direction high,” Kent said.

“It is this practice or technique, you don’t want to say that but by the same token you go back to the old ugly tackles we have had abandoned in the game… it is not illegal, and that is the concern, it is not an illegal tackle and there is nothing illegal in it.

“That being said there were other tackles in the past that have since become illegal, and what the game now has to figure out is were they just two accidents or is there something more deliberate about it, is it something that is being practised, and if so then what do they do about it.

“Under the laws of the game it is a legal tackle but if we are going to see injuries like this beginning to start coming in where players are doing medial ligaments because they are being twisted back over themselves… then the game has to act on it.

“It is going to cause a s**tfight to be honest.”

Jason Taumalolo (centre) on the sidelines after getting injured. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Originally published as ‘Going to cause a s***fight’: New Storm tackling technique called out after injury blows