Ban the kick-off? I’m all for player welfare, but this is madness

“Timing and method are everything. We’re going to speech astir it contiguous past signifier getting it right. We’ll respond to what happened with Moses and enactment connected our method connected kick-offs.”

Thank you, Flanno, for introducing immoderate sanity to proceedings. It’s the benignant of communal consciousness sadly lacking successful astir discussions astir concussion.

Dragons centre Moses Suli was concussed successful the archetypal tackle connected Anzac Day.

Let’s anticipation the NRL is listening earlier it gets spooked into making much cosmetic changes to fulfill those with small involvement successful the game’s semipermanent existence.

The NRL loosely discussed the thought of banning the kick-off during the pre-season, but alternatively tinkered with the rules to “incentivise” abbreviated kick-offs. If the shot goes retired connected the full, oregon doesn’t spell the required 10 metres, the absorption squad isn’t penalised – the different squad simply gets possession via a play-the-ball.

Does it destruct wholly the hazard of concussion — oregon immoderate different injury?

“Short kick-offs instrumentality retired large collisions, but they bring successful different issues,” Flanagan said. “Like radical jumping and landing connected their heads.”

NRL main enforcement Andrew Abdo confirmed determination are nary contiguous plans to footwear the kick-off to the curb, though helium admitted it volition beryllium discussed during the adjacent end-of-season review.

Like galore of us, Abdo wonders what a prohibition connected kick-offs, oregon restarts from agelong kick-offs, would look like.

Maybe the subordinate who catches the shot connected his oregon her effort enactment tin outcry “mark”. Or we could restart play from a line-out. Perhaps we could enactment flags successful the players’ pockets. Or stipulate that a specified interaction with a manus is capable to telephone “tackle”.

If the collision from a kick-off is excessively dangerous, past surely the aforesaid applies to the agelong drop-out. If agelong drop-outs are excessively dangerous, past surely the weaponry should besides beryllium outlawed.

Forget those beauteous swirling, floating kicks from Matt Burton and Nathan Cleary and the like. Too dangerous.

Newcastle’s Kalyn Ponga leaves the tract aft being concussed against the Tigers past year.Credit: Getty

All collision sports volition look vastly antithetic to however they bash present successful 20 years, if not sooner. It wouldn’t astonishment if they didn’t beryllium astatine all.

Other sports, namely the NFL, person wrestled with specified issues for immoderate time.

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American football’s governing assemblage efficaciously made footwear returns optional successful 2018, but squad owners voted successful a raft of changes conscionable a period agone to “address the lowest kickoff instrumentality complaint successful NFL past during the 2023 season”.

If it truly wants to trim concussion, rugby league needs to get superior astir 2 areas.

The first, which I’ve been banging connected astir successful this file for years, is addressing the contented done tackle technique, not band-aid punishments and crackdowns.

Stopping head-high tackles is each good and good, but astir concussions successful the NRL are suffered by defenders. Exhibit A: Moses Suli.

South Sydney manager Jason Demetriou told maine past year that mediocre tackling method was arsenic overmuch to blasted arsenic anything. Exhibit B: Cameron Murray, who has suffered a bid of concussions portion defending. Exhibit C: Kalyn Ponga, who missed astir of past play aft he, too, decided to tackle a Wests Tigers subordinate with his head.

“We’ve done a batch of enactment astir staying taller for longer, not putting ourselves successful a presumption wherever we tin sound ourselves out,” Demetriou said. “We worked connected that today: making definite we’re keeping our feet underneath us, keeping our eyes connected the target, and not dipping successful excessively precocious wherever immoderate footwork tin origin america problems. The connection is, ‘I privation to look aft you first. Second, we can’t spend to person radical coming disconnected the tract each the clip due to the fact that they’re knocking themselves out’.”

The 2nd country that needs addressing is inferior football, and limiting interaction until young brains are afloat formed.

To those wanting to prohibition the kick-off, whitethorn I humbly inquire wherever the enactment should beryllium drawn? When does it end? What bash you privation rugby league to look like?

If you privation to destruct concussions from the game, you’ll request to destruct the game.