Thoughts/Responses to the Jordan McLean - Alex McKinnon tragedy?

Unfortunately, the tackle went above the horizontal and that was when it became illegal. The problem in league is that where the tackle was used to stop the player for a play the ball, it is now solely to slow play down for defences to settle, it is rare in league to see an old fashioned cover defence tackle where the defender on their own chops the legs out from under the attacker. League appears to be developing towards American football. Much more commentary on television and in the written press seems aimed at the tackles, the "big hits" but this is because it is often the only way to regain possession, the ball hopefully lost in the tackle. In this day and age the NRL is played by big men with only the exceptionally gifted smaller men getting a run. In many ways league is now a war of attrition, as players tire they come off for a break and come back on refreshed. The game and the commentators all have to take a share of any blame along with the players and coaches.

I don't consider rugby to be in the same boat, if anything it has become safer over the years. It is a different game with different views on what the tackle is for. In league to slow the game down so as to set defences, in rugby an opportunity to win the ball. These tackles do occur in rugby but not to the extent or number that they do in league. As well they are more heavily scrutinised in the game and punishment can be severe.

I'm not sure what to say. I watched recordings of the incident and it didn't look particularly violent. And being a strictly Union fan and player, I'm not aware enough of the purposes of the contact in the League game to be able to make intelligent distinctions.

That said, I'm struck by Bill P.s observation that League players will deliberately gang tackle a ball carrier "slowly" in order to give the other defenders a chance to get back ten and set up for the next down. I can see how this can create a dangerous situation where the ball carrier is utterly helpless to protect himself if the tackle somehow goes wrong. Totally foreign to the Union game I'm used to, where speed is of the essence if the defense is going to generate a turnover.

The more and more I look at the League game (maybe this is just ignorance speaking) it seems to me that it has taken many a wrong turn in an the ongoing effort to somehow distinguish itself from the Union game. Uncontested scrums to "speed" the game up, but which effectively eliminate true props and second rowers and turn them all into loose forwards. The "get-back-ten" rule just to make the offensive game workable, and now deliberate "time-delay" tackles in order to give the defense more time to set up. Something is fundamentally flawed, and the League establishment has to admit, and address, that fact before they will be able to move forward.