Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou has revealed the staggering toll the infamous hip drop tackle has taken on his squad following his latest injury blow.
Veteran forward Jai Arrow underwent surgery on Monday to fix an ankle injury suffered in a tackle with Titans hooker Chris Randall who was subsequently handed a one-game suspension.
Arrow will be sidelined for up to eight weeks off the back of the hip drop tackle and Demetriou revealed that he has lost players for a combined total of 28 weeks due to the controversial technique.
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Shaquai Mitchell, Keaon Koloamatangi, Izaac Thompson and Junior Tatola have all been sidelined as a result of hip drop tackles — and the Rabbitohs coach told the SMH he has had enough.
“That’s five players who have now missed a combined 28 weeks,” Demetriou said.
“And the first charge for one of those tackles only came on the weekend. He (Randall) will miss one week, and we’ve lost Jai for up to eight weeks.
“Every week a player goes down to the same kind of tackle. And we’re expected to say it’s an ‘accident’. They’re not accidents any more.
Demetriou also called out the NRL for not taking a hard stance and sending a message to the playing group to stamp out the hip drop tackle.
Rabbitohs officials have reportedly written to the game’s powerbrokers regarding their concerns.
“For whatever reason, the bunker doesn’t want to clamp down on it either. The message isn’t getting through to the playing group,” Demetriou said.
“The NRL needs to stop worrying about commentary around it and turn the focus to protecting the players from these dangerous tackles.
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“We’re losing the best players in the game, and our members aren’t getting to see our best players play, because of tackles that can be avoided.
“On Saturday night, we didn’t even get a penalty for the tackle. If you grab hips, swing your weight and drop down, there’s no need for it. Hit and drive or slide down the legs.”
Meanwhile, NRL head of football Graham Annesley admitted the Rabbitohs should have been awarded a penalty after the incident.
“We’ve looked at that and we’ve listened to the audio. The Bunker did see it but they felt there was only minor contact,” Annesley said in his weekly briefing in Monday.
“They’re not to know at that point that there’s a serious injury. That should have been picked up by the Bunker and it should have been relayed to the match officials.
“The level of action that should have been taken was clearly a penalty, but whether it should have been more than that or not would have depended on how the Bunker relayed the information back to the match officials.
“Action was required in this incident.”