Pretty sure he'll be paid compensation, an ex player for tigers got it when he hurt his neck.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.
Didn't an ex-player end up suing another player (Kearney if I remember) for a horrible tackle that left him with damage?Pretty sure he'll be paid compensation, an ex player for tigers got it when he hurt his neck.
very very interesting what will happen with thisGood 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.
That he couldn't breath properly & he couldn't feel his legs.What was Alex saying when he was on the ground?
Thanks. Poor bloke.That he couldn't breath properly & he couldn't feel his legs.
Great post mate!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.
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.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.
Bringing statistics back!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.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.