This is from 2016....

LEEDS RHINOS boss Brian McDermott has accused Wigan Warriors rival Shaun Wane of putting his own team’s interests before player safety.

A row has blown up between the pair following a “dangerous” tackle on Leeds’ Adam Cuthbertson by Wigan’s Taulima Tautai during Rhinos’ win at Headingley Carnegie last week.

Speaking after the game, McDermott said such tackles – when a third defender targets the limbs of an opponent as he is being held upright in a tackle – are potential “leg-snappers”.

The match officials took no action, but Tautai was charged by the RFL’s match review panel. He denied the offence, but was banned for two games after a disciplinary hearing. The suspension was halved on appeal and Wane then accused the Leeds club of trying to influence the disciplinary process.

Wane told the Wigan Evening Post used was poor form. I think it’s poor form from him to put his players’ eligibility first before the game and player safety.”

McDermott claimed some players are now scared to stand in a tackle because of the potential of a leg injury. He said: “What sort of game allows that? What sort of game tries to promote that by the way it handles the punishments for that?”

McDermott was not surprised to see Tautai’s ban halved on appeal. He added: “He’s defending himself. If you go in there and you’ve got a reasonable defence, go for it. It’s not about Tautai, it’s not even about the disciplinary – it’s about what the game wants. This is an area of the game I feel we could get rid of overnight by an interpretation of the rule – you can’t add on to the knee or below once someone else is in contact with the player.”

Exactly. Poor attempt at a "headline" grabber and then a Misspelt poorly written attack on Wigan's Tactics, which have been done to death over the years.
I would add though that as Wakefield Won, they're fans had little reason to pollute the forum with hardship/punching above our weight posts, so it was only to be expected....

Best way to stop it:

Every coach trains their players to do the exact same tackle, but only use it when they are playing against Wigan. If any of the players get pulled in front of the MRP, cite multiple videos of Wigan doing the same thing going unpunished. Continue to do it until;
A) Wigan stop doing it, or
B) Wigan have no players left because all of their knees are crocked

My money would be on A) happening long before B) happened

Was the Fifita tackle the worst one from that game?

So its only Wigan that does it?

Probably yes but Lyne's was the same. It was just at a different camera angle to harder to see.

Correct spelling is not "they're" but "their."

Also, capital letters in mid sentence is not correct English.

People in glass houses ....

you two need your heads banging together, more bothered about grammar than the thread about poor tackling technique that could end a players career

So like the previous game where Wigan lost 2 players to knee injuries at Castleford, with 1 of those players now needing his 4th reconstructive knee surgery, 2 of those caused by Castleford?

Were those injuries caused by foul play or accidental and if they were thought to be foul play, is this why certain Wigan players acted the way they did in the next game ??

I'm not a fan of union but, the players making any tackle in union are deemed "responsible" for the welfare of the player being tackled/
Of course there are still injuries but, it put's a hell of a lot of responsibility on the defending player(s) not to be reckless.

If you are going to attack someone for their spelling, at least make sure your own is perfect you absolute whopper

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... l-tackles/

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... l-tackles/

I'm not prone to hysteria - and it's a fair criticism that the OP was badly titled and not especially well written - but the nub of the post is correct; it's a despicable strategy with potentially devastating consequences, and it needs to be stamped out of the game; and Brian Mac had it right way back when - make it illegal to join a tackle below the knees after contact, and it's gone, just like that.

I've watched the Wigan match back on replay, and it was definitely more notable than most games; it was, I suspect, an attempt to control the really big forwards who have been wreaking havoc, but it was done recklessly and without due care for player welfare - which has been, as evidenced by Shaun Wane's ranting exhortations to his players to "be fu**ing reckless!" a Wigan tactic for some time.

I hope that the one on Fifita is properly handled by the disciplinary panel, to send a strong message; and that the attention its getting on social media will have a more far-reaching impact. We need this out of the game once and for all, and some coaches have more to do than others.

So they decided the challenge on Fifita was a grade A 0 games - despite the minutes saying it posed an "unacceptable risk of injury"...How you can deem a challenge poses an unacceptable risk of injury but is not worth a long ban never mind no ban is confusing to say the least.

Sam Powell did pick up a grade C 2 matches for his challenge on Lynn, however.

unless I'm mistaken the tackle on Fafita has been ignored by the panel

You are mistaken, Shorrocks was given a Grade A charge, no ban.

Indeed, probably because Fifita played on. Powell, on the other hand cops a ban that deliberately injured Reece Lynn.
Maybe some of the Wigan fans on your own board will now be man enough to admit that they were wrong.

Some of your fans say "why are you only picking Wigan out for criticism" but, your side under Wane played a little further "over the line" than others and under Lam, things seem to have got a little worse. Maybe this is part of the "win at all costs ethos" but as one of the biggest clubs in the sport, especially in the UK, Wigan should be setting some sort of (good) example.

Some say that clubs like Wakefield are dragging the sport down but, at least we haven't stooped to your levels.

No real surprise, like I said Tautai only got a 1 match ban for one on Cuthbertson that was just as bad if not worst.

What coaches need to do is join together and air their concerns at the same time as a group, rather than only when it happens to them.

Fifita didn't play on, he stayed down. Do you have any proof that Powell "deliberately" injured a player, or that he made a reckless tackle that caused an injury and has got a proportionate ban?



Funny that, Pauli Pauli got the same charge as Shorrocks, who you claim is deliberately out to injure players; work that one out.

Got the same grade, not the same charge, which is ridiculous. Has Wigan fan seen the clip Fafita posted and can honestly say that the player didn't deserve to be banned?

Wigan have been at it for years, even at youth level. “Snap the pole” was the term used for it by Wane when he was youth coach. Castleford fans boo’d the Wigan youth team off in one game for using these tactics. Some said that was disrespectful as they were only young lads but it’s wasn't the lads they were booing, it was the ethos.

But it’s not just a Wigan thing and they didn’t start it. It’s across the sport in both hemispheres.

These are worse tackles than high tackles but everyone goes wild when a head smash comes in and brush aside these cannonballs; “oh it’s not that bad, started at the hip”.

Wigan fans still talk about Ben Westwood's punch on Blake Green in the 2013 Grand Final. It was a shocker and he should have been sent off, don’t think anyone’s ever said any different. Green had a black eye but went on to win the MOTM. However the worst tackle of the game was Harrison Hansen’s on Stef Ratchford when Ratchford was stood up in a tackle (the pole) and Hansen came in with his full body weight in his shoulder coming down on Ratchford’s knee (snap). Yes first contact was at the hip, like many of these, but the full body weight contact was at the knee. Ratchford wasn’t just out of the Grand Final in a tight game that could have gone either way at that point, he was out of the start of the next season and had a poor season as his recovery took him a full year.

The rule already states that when a player’s momentum stops, he is held. Referees need to call held immediately when that happens. Anyone coming in after that whether high low and just for a tickle should be penalised. This game is tough enough without targeting joints and possibly ending a career.

I call it out whenever I see it.

Wire did two on Saints’ players last week and they should be punished for it. I don’t stand for it whenever anyone does it including my own team’s players.

Quite right too - this goes beyond team allegiances; if you love the game, you should hate this kind of tactic - designed as it is to injure an opponent and take them out of the match.

Like you, I'd be equally appalled to see one of my own team's players do it, as I am when anyone else does it.

I'm firmly of the belief that once an attacker has lost his forward momentum, the referee should call held promptly; they faff about too much, which allows additional tacklers to join in and take him to the floor, even though the tackle is technically complete - and that's the danger point for this type of attack; attacker is stationary, held up by defenders, and completely vulnerable to a cannonball on the lower body. It's awful to watch, and shame on any coach or player who does it.

Spot on with the first 2 paragraphs.

I have sympathy with refs as often the attacker is still moving albeit slowly. However I agree with Printer that the coaches should come out together as a group to confront this issue.

This is a situation where a strong players union would be useful to literally protect their members.

Whilst what happened to Fifita was poor, I've never ever seen a player from any sport go bleating about such stuff on social media and look for sympathy.

But bleating about everything and anything seems to be the ethos throughout the club and it's support at Wakefield.