KIERSTEN DUKE: NRL crackdown is in best interests of players even if Des Hasler and Ricky Stuart disagree

This is an unpopular opinion but I’m in complete support of the NRL cracking down on high tackles.

I love rugby league. I love that it’s a tough and physical game. But nothing makes me wince more than a poor tackle technique resulting in an opposing player copping a shoulder to the head.

OK, that’s a lie, I wince most when I have to touch polystyrene. But witnessing a high tackle is a close second.

Now I’m fully prepared for all the old blokes to come for my jugular over this subject. But quite frankly, I’m bored of hearing “did you see rugby league in the eighties?”

Of course I didn’t, I’m not a fossil sir. It’s 2025, so how about we stop living in the past and move forward with modern medical research as our guide.

The issue so far has been what has warranted a suspension. Corey Wadell copping three weeks for a swinging arm on Tyran Wishart, despite not being sin-binned during the game, has given critics of the new policy plenty of ammunition.

Des Hasler and Ricky Stuart, the usual suspects when it comes to complaining about referees, have not helped matters by claiming no one understands the rule interpretation tweak.

But it’s pretty simple.

The days of knocking a bloke’s head off by focusing a tackle at shoulder height are over. Players can still hit hard, but they need to target their tackles more accurately and look to wrap up the ball.

NRL players probably need to be looking at their rugby union cousins and adopt some of the ways they tackle as contact anywhere near the head is severely penalised in that sport.

Our athletes deserve the best protection we can give them to ensure their longevity in the game. So often we see players forced to retire on medical grounds due to repeated concussions.

I worry for their quality of life after their sporting career ends. Adapting to life after sport is a rough enough adjustment as it is for former professional athletes, but to try and do it while navigating memory loss and brain fog as a result of so many concussions makes it near impossible.

If you look at studies undertaken on concussions in rugby league I think we would all be in agreement that they’re more alarming than you’d expect, with data showing approximately one concussion every three games.

This gives players a concussion rate of just under 15 per cent per 1000 match hours. We know this percentage will never hit zero. That’s unrealistic. But I think the NRL are spot on to take preventative measures into their own hands.

Assigning independent doctors to the game was the first positive step in the right direction. A study suggests that during the 2018 and 2019 seasons 22 per cent of NRL first grade players admitted to not reporting a least one concussion. Do I blame them? No. I would also put my body and health on the line if I had a team depending on me. Do I think this is the correct decision to make? Also no. But when you have adrenaline pumping through your veins, you’re probably not in the right headspace to be making logical decisions regarding your health.

I think we can all safely say that at some point in our lives we’ve made an impulsive decision based on adrenaline. And in hindsight, it’s probably not been the right one! This is exactly why I think it’s appropriate to have a doctor, with no connection to your team, to make the decision for you.

In the NRL, a significant portion of concussions unsurprisingly occur during tackles. So it makes sense for the NRL to take control of the situation by lowering their tolerance for poor tackle techniques.

It’s not unreasonable to require a professional sportsman, who’s paid a good wage, to implement the correct techniques to the best of their ability when it regards the health and safety of another player.

And should they not be able to perform to that standard then it seems perfectly reasonable to implement a punishment such as a sin bin, send-off and then suspension.

The sin bin is annoying and disrupts the flow of the game. But it won’t take long for players to cotton on and adjust to avoid being sent to time out.

They have made plenty of changes to the game before this to make it safer, so this is no different.

If that doesn’t work, then I guess we have no choice but to make our players wear helmets and pads.

Kidding. But in comparison to that, I bet cracking down on high tackles doesn’t sound so bad!