I legitimately laughed out loud when Braith outed himself as Sam Burgess' media leak last year and Solly calling him on itLol at the frosty interview tonight with Braith and Blake Silly Solly.
For me, a version of the shoulder charge has to be allowed to prevent defensive concussions.My idea or solution for the kick off returns, where we see some pretty bad knock outs from time to time, is to limit it to just two tacklers. My reasoning is it always seems to be the third player who clashes heads because he has no space.
I was a critic of the shoulder charge because of many injuries I saw as a result of it. But I kind of get your point. You are advocating the use of the shoulder charge in certain situations which may actually promote safety.For me, a version of the shoulder charge has to be allowed to prevent defensive concussions.
The safest way to stop momentum of a typical kick off run is to turn side on, tuck your arm in tight and brace for the impact. Having to complete a ‘wrap tackle’ puts your head and face directly in the contact zone - whether you go high or low. Go high, you’ll cop an elbow/forearm or a head clash (from the attacker or another defender), go low and you risk late footwork and having your head on the wrong side, or cop a hip or knee.
Similarly, look at when Tedesco got cleaned out by Kikau when Teddy was rushing across to try get Kikau in tough - simple physics suggests the only way he could ever have enough momentum/power to put Kikau in touch and not get knocked out himself would have been to lead with the shoulder.
But to re-introduce leading with the shoulder/bracing for contact with the shoulder, the rules would have to be made in a way that any risk of high contact is minimised, and anyone going high is hung, drawn and quartered at disciplinary. They’d probably also need to find a way of stopping the forecful/blindside shoulder charges that cause whiplash and can go very wrong if contact is also high.
I suspect the terminology ‘shoulder charge’ would need to be avoided, as that brings up images of blokes flying off the line, from the blindside, tucking their arm in and absolutely smashing the runner.I was a critic of the shoulder charge because of many injuries I saw as a result of it. But I kind of get your point. You are advocating the use of the shoulder charge in certain situations which may actually promote safety.
OK. So you have players running towards each other at full speed. Two tacklers wrap their arms in a conventional tackle style. The third tackler.has an issue. There's often no space or way of him making a conventional tackle. It's impossible for him to wrap his arms around the ball runner. But there is room for a shoulder charge. I see your point. It's a plausible solution.
They never have, or the good ones at least. I say take the emotion out of it and look at the data. If its a very rare occurrence at kick off then dont change something the fans enjoy for something that is a low risk, if its a common issue then change it for the welfare of the players. They will have the data surely on how many HIA's occur from kick offs?I suspect the terminology ‘shoulder charge’ would need to be avoided, as that brings up images of blokes flying off the line, from the blindside, tucking their arm in and absolutely smashing the runner.
What I’m talking about is more bracing for contact, takes the sting out of the impact (whilst keeping their head out of the way), slows the attackers momentum and allows 2nd and 3rd man to wrap them up.
Also, at the moment, there’s no deterrent/fear to the runner of the ball - if you’re a big bloke, you can run dead straight, upright and 100 miles an hour kamikaze into contact, as you no longer have to protect your head, you don’t have to be worried about a ‘shooter’ hitting you with a blindside shoulder charge, you don’t have to worry that the bloke you’re charging at will cock his shoulder and meet force with force - as things stand, it’s all in favour of the attacker. They’d maybe think twice about the kamikaze run if there’s a chance they get belted back.
Liver ?
Buzz is back on tv . On air liveLiver ?