THE danger of the shoulder charge - and its place in the NRL - is sure to be fiercely debated after young Wests Tigers prop Matt Groat was knocked out cold last night. Read the full article
Nothing wrong with shoulder charges, but players need to know if they get them wrong and contact the head then they get put on report. If you choose to employ a tackling method because it provides maximum impact, then you must accept the inherent risk of reduced control you have when using that method. You can't plead "accident" or "unintentional" contact as a defence IMO. They have careless and reckless gradings for a reason, shoulder charges fall in that category. I feel the same with head clashes as a result of shoulder charges, should be put on report as well.
If you wanted to, you could also be interpreted that as 2 team mates clashing heads and going on report too. As for Sheen's request for an 18th man to replace an injured player, have the rules changed over the years as I was always under the impression that isn't that the main reason why you have bench players in the first place. Later, as an added benefit, you could also use it as an interchange bench to replace tired players.
What I meant was if you shoulder charge another player and you clash heads with them as a result of that shoulder charge than IMO it is as equally as reckless as contacting their head with your shoulder. The attacking player deserves the full protection of the laws of the game when it comes to being hit in the head.
Had to laugh at Farrar going in hard on T'eo's other shoulder only to nearly knock himself out. Morale of both incidents..stay away from T'eo.
What are we... playing "pat-a-cake" here? This is Rugby League. If it's deliberate target of an opposition's head, then place the appropriate penalties, but shoulder charges is one of the reasons why this game is better than Union. A true gladiator sport. I like the 18th man idea for a team than had been fouled.
You must be joking. Dangerous or not, Groat was knocked out - what did you expect him to do, get up and play on? A bit harsh imo.
