Anyone who saw the tackle in the Storm-Knights game must have felt sick to the stomach. Horrible impact.

Wasn't looking like the worst of tackles but looked like McKinnon though he was going over and tucked his head in. That said, if he'd kept his head straight it would have still been a pretty nasty head first spear given the way his body hit the turf. Never seen someone's neck bend that far in RL that I can recall.

He was moving his head and arms immediately after the impact, didn't see any other movement though within seconds the medical staff were keeping him as still as possible. The looks on the players faces said it all.

And thought it was very ungracious of Cameron Smith to complain about the penalty as McKinnon was stretchered off. There's a time and place to whinge to the ref and that wasn't one of them, regardless of anything else. With 30 seconds to half time, if you must, have a word at the break.

Hope the lad's ok. Knights are saying he's having scans and they won't know anything until Tuesday.

Sums it up perfect for me, really poor by Smith (and the commentators on fox but to be expected).

I hope he is ok and it's nothing to serious

And that just about sums Cameron Smith up in one sentence.

I was surprised and very disappointed. He looked genuinely concerned even upset by the incident, and then moaned to the ref over the penalty, even implying it was McKinnon's fault for tucking his head in. His token statements of goodwill mean little when he sees fit to behave like that in the aftermath of a potentially terrible injury.

Better to have kept his trap shut.

Rubbish, C Smith was protecting J McLean, a v.young person, Smith could feel that his whole career could be jeapordised due to that lift that went wrong, yes McLean should not have done that, but he was facing him during that match and wanted to show who was boss; as I said, Smith was protecting him, and quite right too, Smith was hardly ranting and raving, it was a quiet word with the ref.

And P Sterling agrees with me, as he said the same thing on Triple M after the match.

Peter Sterling is an idiot as well then.

Never said he was ranting. But there are times you shut up and show some respect to fellow players rather than whining. That was one of them. I was embarrassed for him.

Smith explained to the ref that you never want to see that on a rugby field, but that the awful angle of contact was created by the instinctive duck of the head from mckinnon.

Before that though he did seem to be moaning quite abit.

He didn't need to say anything. That's the point. In those circumstances, shut up and walk away. I've played in many games where ambulances have hauled seriously injured lads away (including a very serious and paralysing neck break) and the game becomes immaterial.

He only said those 'nice' things after complaining and probably realising he can be heard over the ref's mic. Make all the excuses you will, his behaviour was p{ss poor. He should have kept his trap shut. Again, I was embarrassed for him.

Anyway, updates now report McKinnon has fractures at C4 and C5 and while the spinal cord has not been severed, the level of spinal cord compromise won't be known for a while. Safe to say there's little chance he'll play again.

Terrible news. Found it hard to watch the agony on his face when I saw the video.
Make you realise what these guys are putting their bodies through every single week. Whether a player is good or bad, old or young, I have the utmost respect for anybody who takes to the rugby field. I am lucky I only ever had a couple of minor injuries but even at a young age I was seeing kids leave the pitch with broken arms and the like.
I imagine he won't play again which will be heartbreaking, even more so at his age (22). I hope he recovers and can find a way to keep involved in the sport.

That's awful.

Tbf to Smith there wasn't anything wrong with the tackle, it was just unfortunate that McKinnon tucked his head in like he did. That said some things are more important and him complaining to the ref is pretty tactless. Horrible incident and I hope he is going to be ok.

Latest news is not good.Fear his playing days may well be over.Lets hope he makes a positive and speedy recovery. rugbyleagueweek.com.au/mckinnon- ... al-injury/

Latest news is not good.Fear his playing days may well be over.Lets hope he makes a positive and speedy recovery. rugbyleagueweek.com.au/mckinnon- ... al-injury/

Quote ="JobsForTheWives"Latest news is not good.Fear his playing days may well be over.Lets hope he makes a positive and speedy recovery. rugbyleagueweek.com.au/mckinnon- ... al-injury/'" As soon as it was announced he had broken his neck his career was as good over, playing again would be nothing short of a miracle. The important thing is that he is able to live a normal life. I don't like the fact they've referred McLean straight to the disciplinary. A young kid playing his debut season, he must already feel awful about what has happened. To haul him straight in front of the panel when he hasn't done a thing wrong is a poor call Imo.

Quote ="JobsForTheWives"Latest news is not good.Fear his playing days may well be over.Lets hope he makes a positive and speedy recovery. rugbyleagueweek.com.au/mckinnon- ... al-injury/'" As soon as it was announced he had broken his neck his career was as good over, playing again would be nothing short of a miracle. The important thing is that he is able to live a normal life. I don't like the fact they've referred McLean straight to the disciplinary. A young kid playing his debut season, he must already feel awful about what has happened. To haul him straight in front of the panel when he hasn't done a thing wrong is a poor call Imo.

The incident was put on report at the time by the referee so there was always going to be a hearing.
He has been stood down from this weeks round and his hearing postponed out of respect to Mckinnon and his family.
Seems harsh but under the circumstances totally understanable.Having looked at the accident it looks like something you see week in week out in RL games.No malice or intention,just an unfortunate set of circumstances all coming together at one terrible instant.

Does a player's insurance reimburse him for any loss of income if they retire early due to an injury like this?

Normally yes.No doubt the NRL will look after him very well anyway.

The poor lad seems to have been put into an induced coma.

Alex was unfortunately in the position of negotiating for a new contract and was due to sign this week, so his current contract is only for the remainder of this year.
On the plus side, he would have the best possible medical insurance thanks to Knights major sponsers NIB (a medical insurance company), and he also lives in one of the areas where Australia's new National Disabilities Insurance Scheme is being trialled, so he won't get a lump sum, but will get ongoing funding for his needs as long as he has a disability.
It is also unthinkable that the club, fans and community of Newcastle won't look after him.

The crown of his head hit first only because the leg lift raised his hips higher than his shoulders. Dangerous position out of his control. This sort of tackle is commonplace and yet very dangerous.

In my view if you lift someone so their hips are higher than their shoulders then you are responsible for how they land.

I hope they dish out a massive ban and clamp down on this practice.

Got to agree. It may have looked fairly innocuous - the sort of tackle we see again and again - but in reality McKinnon was tipped into a dangerous situation and reacted instinctively. If he'd not tucked his head it would have been driven into the turf crown first - he wasn't to know that the final angle of impact would mean the back of his head/neck bore the brunt of the impact.

There was no need to lift his leg (there never is) and the outcome of the tackle speaks or itself. Intentional or not, accidental or not, by lifting the leg McLean has caused the incident. I don't think for a second he meant to cause any injury, merely send a message to his opposite number and 9,999 times out of 10,000 no real harm is done, but eventually that 1 worst case scenario will occur and the question then is should the punishment fit the act or the injury?

i've just watched the video of that, and its made me physically sick, poor lad, poor poor lad.

He's suffered exactly the same injury I did. Same level, same operation, same induced coma. Bloody scary.

I hope the damage to his spinal cord isn't to the same extent as mine was.

I can't even bring myself to watch the game. Just deleted it straight off my Sky box.

My thoughts are with him and his family.

Just reported at half time in this mornings game he's been diagnosed as a quadriplegic..Terrible news www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 6870148278

Just reported at half time in this mornings game he's been diagnosed as a quadriplegic..Terrible news www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 6870148278

Very bad news indeed!! Sad day for RL around the world.

Not very accurate. He has quadriplegia but it is way too early to know the long term extent until the swelling from surgery goes down and more tests and rehab are done.

Still very sad though.