Alex McKinnon neck injury.

[OTTO]

Clearly its still in everyones head that McLean was the only tackler, forget the force from the 2 Bromwich brothers ... They didn't play a part did they ??

 

[Moey999]

Good point I heard raised today.

Yes I realise that players will have income protection (maybe), and health insuracne, but if his career is over, only Newcastles good will would allow him to continue to be paid until the end of his contract, and then what? He may require medical care for life and never be able to work again.

As a result McLean should forfeit some of his payments each game, to go towards McKinnons future, until such time as his injury can be fully assessed.

...

This whole "me me me" approach from the Storm is pretty disgusting, but then we are talking about the club who pioneered tackles like the chicken wing, cannonball, scorpion, crusher, and others, so why start talking about morals now.

If it was Cameron Smith or Billy Slater in McKinnons position I'm sure they'd have a different attitude to it.

Pretty sure he'll be paid compensation, an ex player for tigers got it when he hurt his neck.

 

[Nano]

Pretty sure he'll be paid compensation, an ex player for tigers got it when he hurt his neck.

Didn't an ex-player end up suing another player (Kearney if I remember) for a horrible tackle that left him with damage?

 

[TJW]

has newcastle blown up about mcclean playing this week? i haven't seen it, maybe they know accidents can happen.

 

[Shanty Bill]

What was Alex saying when he was on the ground?

 

[Captain Kickass]

Y'know the saying "one in a million" ?
Here's some quick context .....

I've been watching rugby league for 30+ years.
There's approx 200 games a year.
There's about 35 sets of play per team per game.
Assuming a kick occurs on tackle 5 ...

30 x 200 x 35 x 2 x 5 = 2,100,000 tackles.

While other neck fractures may have resulted from collisions, this is the first broken neck of it's kind that I can recall.

 

[chris_e_fresh]

Good point I heard raised today.

Yes I realise that players will have income protection (maybe), and health insuracne, but if his career is over, only Newcastles good will would allow him to continue to be paid until the end of his contract, and then what? He may require medical care for life and never be able to work again.

As a result McLean should forfeit some of his payments each game, to go towards McKinnons future, until such time as his injury can be fully assessed.

...

This whole "me me me" approach from the Storm is pretty disgusting, but then we are talking about the club who pioneered tackles like the chicken wing, cannonball, scorpion, crusher, and others, so why start talking about morals now.

If it was Cameron Smith or Billy Slater in McKinnons position I'm sure they'd have a different attitude to it.

very very interesting what will happen with this
i don't believe mclean should pay anything from his own wages to be honest, the nrl should cover players under work cover but if they are contractors they should have there own shouldn't they

i tell you why he is playing this week because if they said take a week off its admitting guilt and mckinnon could possibly sue the nrl or mclean

this is a very very interesting case which can change the way game is played

 

[Natboy]

Daryl Brohman said he saw 6 similar tackles in the game

 

[El_Magic]

Ffs, there was nothing in it! Every player I've seen on Twitter and instagram talking about it has said that it was a noting tackle and just unfortunate.

 

[Bakes]

Horrible what happened to the poor kid but, there was nothing in the tackle.

 

[OTTO]

Newcastle are going to retire #16 for the rest of the year & have his name on the jersey.

Without sounding like a ****, He is not dead.

I could understand Sonny Fai, the young Tiger & the young Cowboy ...

 

[Kaz]

What was Alex saying when he was on the ground?

That he couldn't breath properly & he couldn't feel his legs.

 

[Shanty Bill]

That he couldn't breath properly & he couldn't feel his legs.

Thanks. Poor bloke.

 

[Edroy]

I really feel for Alex and his family and hope he can recover.

I've read heaps about this terrible accident recently and just read some of this thread. I had to add my 2c as I have a lot to say on the matter.

Firstly the NRL have gotten it very wrong. They brought in serious penalties for lifting tackles a few years ago and what has happened? Sweet **** all. There's still heaps of them and most go unpunished or with only minor suspensions. If players were sent off they MIGHT eradicate it from the game but sending off players too much would ruin the product.

Sadly young McKinnon is the example of why there needed to be more serious action. If I was Alex and his family I'd sue them tbh. This was bound to happen eventually with the NRL's weak stance. The fact there were apparently several other lifting tackles in the same match not even penalised, and the one on James Graham didn't warrant any suspension is mind boggling.

Secondly, most people commenting on the tackle have said that the severity of injury was caused by McKinnon tucking his head in. Like (probably) everyone else I can only go off common sense since I'm not a spinal/orthopedic specialist, but I'd guess that the angle of his neck certainly wasn't ideal, BUT all that is irrelevant afaic, because without Maclean lifting, he wouldn't have reacted that way. The other two Storm players had McKinnon subdued and a third man wasn't even necessary. Also, Maclean is huge and as shown in a pic posted in the thread, he launches off the ground in the process of lifting. McKinnon. At this point McKinnon probably felt like he was going to be upended, hence tucked his head, but wasn't tipped on his head due to the two other tacklers weighting his torso. As I said though, it's irrelevant from a blame pov, as none of this would have happened, had the player not lifted in the tackle.

Another thing I disagree with is how most people have said this tackle wasn't as bad, or didn't look as bad as many others we've seen over the years. Again, I'm not an expert, but I don't see it like that at all. Sure there are more dramatic looking tackles eg: Inu on Inglis and Docker on Graham, but logically, a player that gets tackled by ONE defender and tipped on his head is less at risk than a player that is speared into the ground at a low angle with the weight of THREE players coming down, a lot of that weight in a forward motion.

Don't be fooled because the player was barely past the horizontal, while others are dumped on their heads. A lot of the time (perhaps all the time) when a player is past say 45 degrees, he doesn't have a lot of weight (besides his own) forcing his head and neck into the ground, as most defenders release at or before this point because they know the tackle has gone wrong. I'm sure there is a fairly high risk to these tackles also and of course they are one of the worst fouls in RL, but I think people have grossly underestimated how severe the tackle on McKinnon was. The fact he didn't topple over was a bad thing as Maclean kept driving, thinking it wasn't dangerous. Well, clearly it was.

The worst aspects imo are the fact a third man was unnecessary (as is often the case but that's how they're coached) and certainly there was no need to lift. The NRL and coaches need to take a long hard look at the rules, penalties and what they train players to do because imo it was only a matter of time before this sort of horrific injury occurred.

The NRL make up all these rules to protect players yet they barely even enforce them. Shame on you NRL.

 

[kirk buttercup]

Terrible, only saw it last night. Really feel for his family the knights and the other young guy who made the tackle and now has to live with it. . Great to see all supporters from every team getting behind him at the end of the day we all love rugby but players welfare is far more important no matter which flag you fly. An awful accident.

 

[coach]

What if a player does the same thing a week before the grand final, there team makes it to gf!!! Does he miss the gf or play in it???? Very very slippery slope the nrl has started here!!!

 

[Nano]

I really feel for Alex and his family and hope he can recover.

I've read heaps about this terrible accident recently and just read some of this thread. I had to add my 2c as I have a lot to say on the matter.

Firstly the NRL have gotten it very wrong. They brought in serious penalties for lifting tackles a few years ago and what has happened? Sweet **** all. There's still heaps of them and most go unpunished or with only minor suspensions. If players were sent off they MIGHT eradicate it from the game but sending off players too much would ruin the product.

Sadly young McKinnon is the example of why there needed to be more serious action. If I was Alex and his family I'd sue them tbh. This was bound to happen eventually with the NRL's weak stance. The fact there were apparently several other lifting tackles in the same match not even penalised, and the one on James Graham didn't warrant any suspension is mind boggling.

Secondly, most people commenting on the tackle have said that the severity of injury was caused by McKinnon tucking his head in. Like (probably) everyone else I can only go off common sense since I'm not a spinal/orthopedic specialist, but I'd guess that the angle of his neck certainly wasn't ideal, BUT all that is irrelevant afaic, because without Maclean lifting, he wouldn't have reacted that way. The other two Storm players had McKinnon subdued and a third man wasn't even necessary. Also, Maclean is huge and as shown in a pic posted in the thread, he launches off the ground in the process of lifting. McKinnon. At this point McKinnon probably felt like he was going to be upended, hence tucked his head, but wasn't tipped on his head due to the two other tacklers weighting his torso. As I said though, it's irrelevant from a blame pov, as none of this would have happened, had the player not lifted in the tackle.

Another thing I disagree with is how most people have said this tackle wasn't as bad, or didn't look as bad as many others we've seen over the years. Again, I'm not an expert, but I don't see it like that at all. Sure there are more dramatic looking tackles eg: Inu on Inglis and Docker on Graham, but logically, a player that gets tackled by ONE defender and tipped on his head is less at risk than a player that is speared into the ground at a low angle with the weight of THREE players coming down, a lot of that weight in a forward motion.

Don't be fooled because the player was barely past the horizontal, while others are dumped on their heads. A lot of the time (perhaps all the time) when a player is past say 45 degrees, he doesn't have a lot of weight (besides his own) forcing his head and neck into the ground, as most defenders release at or before this point because they know the tackle has gone wrong. I'm sure there is a fairly high risk to these tackles also and of course they are one of the worst fouls in RL, but I think people have grossly underestimated how severe the tackle on McKinnon was. The fact he didn't topple over was a bad thing as Maclean kept driving, thinking it wasn't dangerous. Well, clearly it was.

The worst aspects imo are the fact a third man was unnecessary (as is often the case but that's how they're coached) and certainly there was no need to lift. The NRL and coaches need to take a long hard look at the rules, penalties and what they train players to do because imo it was only a matter of time before this sort of horrific injury occurred.

The NRL make up all these rules to protect players yet they barely even enforce them. Shame on you NRL.

Great post mate!

I agree, he and his family should be looking at suing or getting some sort of compensation because the NRL clearly didn't remove this third man or lifting shit and he paid for it at his own expense...

The third man wasn't needed and there wasn't the need for lifting him they only had to wait about ~2 more seconds for the referee(s) to call held but they didn't want to give up a precious 1-2 meters and cause this.

The tackle was bad (very bad) just because it didn't look as dramatic or violent as other tackles seen before yet the end result says something else, I am pretty pissed off that those players are allowed to play this week especially against us but when Graham was placed in a pretty awkward position (he has been on the end of alot of foul play since 2012) without the ball it was let to slide and that player was let off but Inu was made an example for something that looked much worse but nothing happened from it thankfully.

If Inu copped 5 weeks for something that looked horrible and most likely was but nothing resulted from it then that should the be the benchmark not because he only tackled Inglis, the NRL need to act now and not wait for something like Inu's past example because he tackled a well known player.

Also Graham apparently bit Slater's ear and copped 12 weeks straight yet a player ends up in hospital requiring emergency surgery to stabilise his neck from a third man in lifting tackle pretty much ending his career you would think and is free to play until a later time???

 

[nasals]

Disagree..

If he doesn't tuck his head in, he breaks C1 or C2, or if VERY lucky, just breaks his nose and snaps his neck back.

I agree tucking his head in prevented a worse injury. To me that was a spear tackle, they need to stamp this out of the game. I feel for the guy and wish him a quick recovery.

 

[magdog]

Y'know the saying "one in a million" ?
Here's some quick context .....

I've been watching rugby league for 30+ years.
There's approx 200 games a year.
There's about 35 sets of play per team per game.
Assuming a kick occurs on tackle 5 ...

30 x 200 x 35 x 2 x 5 = 2,100,000 tackles.

While other neck fractures may have resulted from collisions, this is the first broken neck of it's kind that I can recall.

Bringing statistics back!

Good stuff!

 

[halpo]

Y'know the saying "one in a million" ?
Here's some quick context .....

I've been watching rugby league for 30+ years.
There's approx 200 games a year.
There's about 35 sets of play per team per game.
Assuming a kick occurs on tackle 5 ...

30 x 200 x 35 x 2 x 5 = 2,100,000 tackles.

While other neck fractures may have resulted from collisions, this is the first broken neck of it's kind that I can recall.

Doesn't matter, one is too many,hearing a lot about "an accident",something has to be done to prevent this happening again,you say it's the first of its kind,but it could in all reality happen again next week,these young blokes need to be protected somehow,not sure what the answer is,but maybe just 2 man tackles(I know that will cause an uproar)other industry's go out of there way to manage risk(after all this is only another form of industry)and the nrl should do the same,please don't just bury our heads in the sand and say it's an accident,this young blokes life seems to be completely facked now and it's a terrible shame,our thoughts and preys are with him and his family and that of Jarrod mcleans,let's try and find a solution,sorry captain kickass,just tacking onto your post.