Tackle characteristics resulting in potential head injuries in elite men's rugby league : A video analysis study of 746 tackles

Journal article

Woodward, James, Jones, Ben, Phillips, Gemma, Till, Kevin, Hendricks, Sharief, Tucker, Ross, Bleakley, Chris and Tierney, Gregory. (2025). Tackle characteristics resulting in potential head injuries in elite men's rugby league : A video analysis study of 746 tackles. European Journal of Sport Science. 25(3), p. Article e12270. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsc.12270
AuthorsWoodward, James, Jones, Ben, Phillips, Gemma, Till, Kevin, Hendricks, Sharief, Tucker, Ross, Bleakley, Chris and Tierney, Gregory
Abstract

Objectives
Contact with the head should be avoided during a rugby league tackle, given the inherent risks of head injuries. This study aimed to characterise a sample of tackles, retrospectively identified as resulting in a potential head injury by the Rugby Football League (RFL) match review panel.

Design
Retrospective video analysis study.

Methods
746 tackles, identified by the RFL match review panel from the men's 2018 and 2019 Super League seasons, were analysed. Video clips were coded using an adapted analysis framework, characterising tackle stage, head contact, affected player, offending player/surface, offending body part/surface and tackle sanctioning. Data were reported as frequencies and percentages.

Results
The majority of tackles resulting in a potential head injury occurred in the initial tackle contact stage (n = 590, 79.2%). The ball-carrier was most frequently affected (n = 372, 49.9%) compared to initial tacklers (n = 213, 28.6%). The initial tackler was the most frequently impacting player (n = 268, 36.0%), with the majority of potential head injuries occurring from direct head contact by the arm (n = 230, 34.1%), shoulder (n = 170, 25.2%) and head/neck (n = 145, 21.5%) of the impacting player. Head contact was present in 90.6% (n = 675) of the tackles resulting in a potential head injury. Of the sample of tackles, 16.1% (n = 109) of direct head contact events received a sanction from on-field match officials.

Conclusion
The initial tackle contact between the ball-carrier and initial tackler remains the area of focus for research into potential head injuries in elite-level men's rugby league, to improve awareness and understanding of the mechanisms of injury.

Keywordshead; contact; head; injuries; rugby; tackling
Year2025
JournalEuropean Journal of Sport Science
Journal citation25 (3), p. Article e12270
PublisherWiley-VCH GmbH
ISSN1746-1391
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsc.12270
PubMed ID39999225
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85218945765
PubMed Central IDPMC11855370
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Page range1-9
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online25 Feb 2025
Publication process dates
Accepted22 Jan 2025
Deposited16 Apr 2025
Additional information

© 2025 The Author(s). European Journal of Sport Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH on behalf of European College of Sport Science.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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