I get the crackdown. They are essentially changing the way the game is played, and will be played in the future. They have to. In my opinion, and I’m serious here, the game won’t exist in 10 years if getting concussed is considered “part of the game”. The world is changing, like it or not. A concussion during a game needs to be considered the exception rather than be expected.
Concussions will always occur in a collision sport like this, hips, knees, heads in the wrong places in tackles etc.
But players don’t have to tackle high. They do it because they’re coached to do it.
In saying all this, the NRL made a mistake in cracking down during the season. They should have told coaches in October that it starts next season. That would have given them a bit of time to work on technique.
But even then, two things need to occur to make it work.
1. The rule, or more importantly the penalties, have to be applied consistently. How that will be done, I’m not sure, because it’s not happening at the moment. People in the NRL are paid to work that out
2. The legs tackle needs to be rewarded and treated as a dominant tackle, with the defender being allowed to hold on for a few seconds, rather than release immediately like they’re required to do now.
Like it or not, rugby has it right. They cracked down some time ago, and any contact with the head is a yellow card (10 minutes), or sent off. The coaches and players adapted, and most games are played now without players spending time on the sideline.
