Commission to outlaw 'shoulder charge'

[bellyache]

How can they say shoulder to shoulder is dangerous, hitting in the head is and is illegal, that should be the way they rule on it

Touche!

 

[adamkungl]

The footy's been good in spite of the ban, not because of it.

 

[Springs]

The ban is a farce because every reason it was banned was still seen on the weekend. What's the point of banning it when players are being hit just as hard, being hit in the head by shoulders, and suffering the same amount of concussion and sub-concussions that will apparently lead to 'lawsuits' later in life. So what have we gained by banning it? By unbanning it at least we don't have the hypocrisy of the George Rose hit being illegal for some reason and the big hits on the weekend by Eastwood, Graham etc being legal yet causing more of the damage the ban is supposed to prevent.

 

[applesauce]

Tackles can lead to contact to the head. Anyone taking bets on when the tackle or fend become outlawed from the game?

2029? Sooner?

It isn't contact to the head it as much as it's the head velocity is increased ~25% (from memory in the report) in a shoulder charge.

There is more 'rattling' of the brain in the skull.

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

How can anyone say the game is better or worse when there has been no noticeable change?

The only change is the NRL have said "we've banned the shoulder charge", but saying it and doing it are two different things. Apart from the silly call against the Warriors the refs haven't bothered.

Look at the Youtube videos I posted. Is the Matai effort any different to what George Rose did the other week, apart from that Matai gets his run wrong and only lands a glancing blow? The other shoulder charge on Earl is as blatant and you'll see and I think is the type of the shoulder charge that everyone can agree is a shoulder charge, it's the same as what Elijah Taylor was pinged for, the only difference is that Earl was hit about 10 times harder! That's just two on youtube

Curious to see how it continues. If this is the ban then I support it completely. I would have supported it all along if I knew the NRL intended not to enforce it from the start, but were just saying it to appease Bunniesman and co! :lol:

In the middle hit you can clearly see that Graham has his right arm around Hoffman which simply bounces upwards a bit on impact. This is all but the same as the Eastwood hit the other night, the difference being that Eastwood went lower and didn't hit Scott in the face. Still the same technique we're told is a shoulder charge though.

Look at the Dragons hit (sorry I've forgot his name), that's how Foran was tackling all night against the Broncos

I guess refs can't be expected to pick up everything but some of them I thought were blatant, like in the Panthers Raiders game, how could the ref miss that one?

 

[Billythekid]

Pretty much what Masoe said. They basically aren't even enforcing this rule so i have no problem with it.

Because i only have 1 round to compare, and to me the footy ive seen this weekend has been better than any round 1 i can remember. There were still big hits and i dont think the "loss" of the shoulder charge has been a loss at all.

I think a big part of this has been the new rule changes. There have been too many penalties (hopefully that starts drying up soon) but the video ref changes have helped speed the game up quite a bit.

Also pretty much all of the calls have been right (a few iffy ones around but not much compared to normal). Usually by now we would have people whinging about all sorts of bad calls.

 

[Tone83]

The problem is gonna be when they do enforce it. Not enforcing it a few times doesn't mean everything is fine, at some point it will be enforced and they'll be technically in the right and it will suck. Potentially change a game or even ruin a team's season, then it will earn it's bullshit stripes. The fact it has that potential is why it sucks dong.

 

[taipan]

True, but the most overlooked factor of the shoulder charge is the Morale boost it gives the rest of the pack. Unfortunately a staunch workhorse won't fire up his players as much as one big hit.

If you have got to rely on a shoulder charge to boost morale,your forwards are nuffies.
Look at the front on tackle on Idris by a Shark's player,his teammates went ballistic as did the crowd.Idris stopped in his tracks, went down like a sack of spuds.
A shoulder charge is laziness,and can bring the user undone,missing the attacker or stuffing his own shoulder.
It is not as if shoulder charges have been part and parcel of the game since 08 ,bceause they have not.

 

[Bengal]

If you have got to rely on a shoulder charge to boost morale,your forwards are nuffies.

Much like if you have to rely on scoring points to boast morale then the team is also ?nuffies?. Many facets of play boost morale, its simple to suggest that one morale boosting facet is anymore ?silly? than any other.

A shoulder charge is laziness,and can bring the user undone,missing the attacker or stuffing his own shoulder.

Given the amount of fatigue playing this game engenders in players one would surmise that we should see a plethora of shoulder charges given your reasoning. But of course we don?t and we never have. A shoulder charge is a skill, one that very few players possess as evidenced by the amount of players that actually attempt the play. Likewise, it is a very hard skill to master as evidenced by the amount of times it can backfire. It is not a lazy play; it is a low-percentage play.

It is not as if shoulder charges have been part and parcel of the game since 08 ,bceause they have not.

They?ve been around ever since I?ve followed the game, the big shoulder charge by a Kiwi (Kevin Tamati I think) on Rohan Hancock in a test match in the early eighties setting the tone for that match. They?re spectacular but few and far between within matches because of their low percentage success rate.



.

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

Yesterdays game was interesting. Sandow with a shoulder charge clear as day, but the referee interpretation was that as he brought round his other arm, that stopped it being a shoulder charge.

He did absolutely nothing with his left arm, it just happened to jolt around some on impact, and Morris happened to be running on a favourable angle. You only have to look at how he moves in with his right shoulder to see that there was no effort to use the left arm, he's lucky that he even managed to get on a hand on Morris to be honest.

Who can honestly say he was trying to wrap with the left? At best it looks like he was going in to give Morris an affectionate tummy-rub! :lol:

f**k me if that's not a shoulder charge. What's the difference between that and Burgess on O'Donnell? Do the NRL seriously think that if Burgess or sticks his weak(left) arm out a little like Sandow that the g force and concussions they can dish out with their right shoulder is somehow diminished?? That the danger of headclashes is less?

I love Sandow and have him in my fantasy team don't get me wrong, I want him playing every game. It's just you have to laugh at how shambolic this is only a handful of games in. Player safety my arse. If Burgess or Te'o hit somebody like Sandow did, that somebody is getting stretchered off the field.

 

[Walt Flanigan]

100% a shoulder charge. Glad it was let go though.

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

Here's a JWH hit from last year which is identical to Sandows in everything but result(Hargreaves lifted his man about 20 foot in the air)

Do you think if this round a big lad like JWH or Tom Learoyd Lars hit someone like that and flattened them that the refs would let it go, the loose arm makes a bit of gay contact after all.... i doubt it, but i hope so! would be a great interpretation that players can exploit easily

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

Seeing as the rule change has obviously stumped some of us lesser minded folks and we're struggling to come to terms with identifying a shoulder, and what is or isn't one, i've created two images to better explain the radical shoulder charge overhaul for season twenty-thirteen

I'm so glad we've tackled the big issue and players are now safe from the barbarism and dangers of shoulder charges :roll:

 

[muznik]

Wasnt a shoulder charge due to the left arm being involved.
Great call by the Ref's to let it go.
Dont need to ruin the game by more ridiculous calls.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Hopefully it is proof that the players have already found a way around the ridiculous law by hitting with one shoulder and giving the impression of a tackle with the other. The dumb merkins deserve to have this rule exploited so no one will have any concerns if this continues.

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

Wasnt a shoulder charge due to the left arm being involved.
Great call by the Ref's to let it go.
Dont need to ruin the game by more ridiculous calls.

Wasn't so much the involvement of the left arm than it was that his left arm exists, that's to say he has a left arm and it's attached to the rest of his body.

Sandow has always made shoulder charges (as identified by coaches and pundits alike, including Gus Gould on numerous occasions) with his arms rather limp and raised.

Is anyone in communication with the Titans camp? Ring them and let them know that it's okay, Ryan James technique last year was just fine... he had one arm "involved" after all :sarcasm::sarcasm:

You're kidding yourself!

 

[Springs]

It's all good. Just stick your left arm out and it's fine.

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

Hopefully it is proof that the players have already found a way around the ridiculous law by hitting with one shoulder and giving the impression of a tackle with the other. The dumb merkins deserve to have this rule exploited so no one will have any concerns if this continues.

f**k me, it's going to be like watching back-to-back IP Man movies!

In fact I heard the Rabbitohs have picked up a karate coach and Burgess has got his technique down pat

 

[Apey]

Here's a JWH hit from last year which is identical to Sandows in everything but result(Hargreaves lifted his man about 20 foot in the air)

Do you think if this round a big lad like JWH or Tom Learoyd Lars hit someone like that and flattened them that the refs would let it go, the loose arm makes a bit of gay contact after all.... i doubt it, but i hope so! would be a great interpretation that players can exploit easily

lol I looked at this picture for a good 30 seconds before I realised JWH wasn't just randomly shoulder charging a referee...

 

[Y2Eel]

Just outlaw the use of the shoulder to keep this guy happy