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Super League coach claims star player could be out for four weeks because of hip drop tackle

There has been a lot of talk about the hip drop tackle in recent weeks and now Adrian Lam has claimed that one of his star players has gone down to an injury because of one.

“We’ve only got a small squad but we’re certainly pushing the boundaries of that at the moment,” he said on Leigh Leopards’ YouTube channel to address the club’s injuries.

“Jack Hughes has torn his calf, it’s a grade two three so that’s going to be sort of long term ish. We’re looking at four to six weeks plus with that so that’s not good news for Jack.

“He’s missed a fair few games this year and it’s frustrating for him and for us but we’ve just got to get on with it.

“If there is any good news it’s the fact that Gaz O’Brien is back from missing the last game through a failed HIA. We’ve certainly missed him over the last couple of weeks.

“On top of that Ben Nakubuwait is also still in doubt with a medial ligament strain in his knee, which could be up to four weeks as well.

“We’re obviously very frustrated with the tackle action that forced that. I think they’re looking at that in the NRL at the moment quite heavily, but you know a similar action is going to make him miss four to six weeks.

“He is up and running and moving so that’s positive news but he’s still going to be out for a couple of weeks.”

When asked if this injury came from a hip drop tackle, Lam said: “I don’t know the exact terminology for it at the moment because there’s been a few similar, ninja, hip, hip and swing and drop and all sorts of stuff going on, but it was one of those yeah.

“It’s something the game is cracking down on but it probably needs to as well, when you look at the actions most of the time they’re accidental but I feel that if you put yourself in that position to do that then the player is going to get injured.

“It’s something that we need to have a closer look at. I know we’re looking at it closely but whether it’s intentional or accidental is what we need to decide on moving forward as a sport.”

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. John Rushbrooke

    April 16, 2023 at 8:57 pm

    Has the hip-drop tackle suddenly been invented by someone? Most of the ones I’ve seen appear to be “tackles”. I don’t see anyone attempting to get the opponents ankle or lower leg trapped under any part of their body and predominantly it’s a last-second coming together which neither party either planned or could have done anything to avoid. No amount of legislation is going to stamp this out because as far as I can see, there is no deliberate intent or even attempt to cause injury.

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