Time for a rule change?
 

It was a sickening sight today to see Jamie Graham suffer a horrific knee injury that could end his career. It sounds like he has ripped ligaments and his knee dislodged. It looked like his leg was dislocated. It happened when Toby McGrath kicked it too far and Graham had to run back to try and win the ball and a Subi player came in from the side or the opposite direction but he slid under Graham's legs and basically skittled his legs dragging one leg underneath the Subi players legs trapping Jamies left leg which resulted in serious damage to his knee.

It was much the same way Michael Barlow's leg got broken last year when Reece Palmer slid underneath Barlow who was standing. Jamie Graham was also standing so the question has to be asked, should sliding in legs first be considered a dangerous act and outlawed in the game?

I could see it coming and i was cringing even before the contact that caused the injury and I had a similar thought when Palmer slid in underneath Barlow last year. The damage that the total mass of a 75 - 90kg player can cause to the legs of a player who is standing while attempting to win the ball can be horrific.

I think this area of the game needs to be looked into. I'm not sure if this is a trend we are seeing in the game but i suspect it is a by product of having 4 interchange players and more congestion. I know we have had 4 interchange for a long time now but I think the trend has been to much higher rotations on and off the bench and that is why the AFL has reduced the number of interchange to 3 and 1 substitute. This rule seems to be popular with most critics and perhaps it needs to be implemented in the WAFL next year?

But apart from that I would like to see sliding into an opponents legs made illegal resulting in a free kick. This would make players stay on their feet and make it a truer contest of skill.

All the best to Jamie Graham, I hope to see him back if not this year then the next.

This injury is so bad it has attracted national interest. They showed footage of it on The Fifth Quarter on One tonight and Melbourne captain Brad Green cringed and said "awwe i can't watch it". I was wrong the Subi player (Hughes) didn't slide in leg first he dived in head first which probably just means it was a dangerous act for himself as well Graham.

I saw it nothing more than a courageous act on both parts, no rule change needed here.

Nah sorry, I totally disagree faz. While it was courageous on Hughes part it is also a reckless way to attack the ball. He dived in head first into Jamie Graham's legs at full flight, he came sprinting from about 20m back and dived into his legs and look at the consequences? If 2 players did that at training resulting in ending the season of one of their own the club would be furious and instruct their players not to be so reckless.

I reckon if you got 2 players to simulate the same scenario 10 times there would be a good chance of a serious injury to the player standing 5 times out of 10, and possibly a concussion or 3 to the player diving in head first. So what should John Dimmer instruct his players to do in a situation like that next time? Hang back to avoid serious injury or dive in head first as well because that is the courageous thing to do and possibly risk serious head damage?

There was no reason at all for Hughes to dive in head first, I recorded it and have watched it a few times and Jamie Graham was slowing down and all Hughes had to do was stay on his feet and either bump or tackle him which is what you are allowed to do within the laws of our game. In fact technically it was tripping which is illegal. It doesn't matter if you do it with your hands, your feet or your head, if you attack the legs of a player it is tripping.

I think it's a little bit like tunnelling which has crept into our game at AFL level. I think Hawthorn were the team that was criticised for using it as a tactic where a player deliberately takes the legs out from under a player leaping in the air to attempt a mark.

Dont remember there being a free kick to Jamie, so it was within the laws of the game and recording and watching it a few times wont change the fact that it happened in the spur of the moment, and Danny Hughes didn't have the benefit of the doubt as you had of watching a video, do you reckon Danny had time to identify that Graham was coming towards him and think to himself here's my chance to dive in with my head and cause serious injury to Graham and himself with a serious neck injury.

from all reports the leg is not broken (2 be confirmed) but the knee was dislocated which made it look so ugly...once the swelling goes down then they can assess if there has been any ligiment damage...if not ie ACL, then it is possible we could see him back this year...

Think Hughes was reckless in has approach & I am sure the result wasnt his intention, but look at the result...

Just because the umpire didn't pay a free kick doesn't mean it was legal. How many do these umpires miss per game?

And yes Danny Hughes had plenty of time to make a better decision than flying in head first. It is dead simple really, if you take a players legs out it is a free kick and players will think twice before diving in or sliding in under a players legs and it will drastically reduce the chances of these sort of injuries from occurring. The rules are probably already there it just needs to be broadened to cover sliding in or diving in and making contact with the legs.

hindsight, hindsight, hindsight. plenty of time - you reckon. what may look like plenty of time may actually not be. too easy to sit back and judge.
a couple of bully mates who saw it basically said it was just plain unlucky/unfortunate. no blame on the subi player. trust me - if he farked up big time they would let me know in no uncertain language.

No hindsight raiserrr, i cringed before contact was made because i could see it was a dangerous situation, but that's ok i know you are defending your player. As i said on another thread, I'm not saying Hughes intended to cause injury to Jamie Graham, he was just trying to win the ball but the way he went in was imo reckless.

yeh no prob, just hope graham comes back. too good a player to go out like that. i think the fact that the injury was horrific had more to do with the "highlight" being shown than the actual intent (as there was none).

This is bullshit, footy players go hard at the ball the umpires saw no reason to report it play on, we might as well ban players for using their knees to take a mark i mean you can get concussion for getting a knee to the back of head or isn't that as bad enough to warrant a rule change.

as d/d said, i'm defending my player. too right i am as it was plain unlucky - nothing more nothing less. if hughes broke his neck then we would be banging graham for having his knees in the way.

That's why I'm saying I think there needs to be a rule change or for existing rules to be broadened. Times have changed, the game nowadays protects the head because of the possible repercussions. Why shouldn't other parts of the body be protected? Would you be happy for that happen to your young bloke and brush it off as "that's football"? The word reckless has crept into football tribunals in recent years.

Yes there are freak accidents that happen as part of our game that can't be avoided. I believe that incident could have been avoided and Hughes could have attacked that contest standing up like JG did.

Yep maybe could of been avoided just bad luck imo, the fact he dived in head first tells me he was in the most danger could of broken his neck, the umpires have enough problems interpreting the game as it is, dont need another rule change to confuse them i have always found players diving into packs very courageous and would hope my young fella would do it if he had to.

He was attacking the football. It wasn't "reckless" at all he was just a player who was going for the ball. Looks like we will get a good look at how great SF's depth is now won't we.

No one disputes his intent wasn't for the ball but that doesn't mean it is not a reckless way to go about it and the results speak for themselves. He came in like a rugby player in a scrum except instead of a standing start he had a 20m run up and slammed straight into Graham's knee. I'm pretty sure even in the brutal game of rugby they can't attack a player below the waste or knees but they can grab a blokes ankles from behind.

I'm not a rugby man so i might be wrong but i can't recall blokes tackling players head on and attacking the legs.

slammed into his knees going for the ball, the same as forwards crash into backmen going for the mark, the same as others crash into packs to split them open.

quote - he had a 20 metre run up and slammed straight into graham's knee "but he was going for the ball". wtf
its only because graham was hurt that you term it reckless, if he was okay you wouldn't think twice. it'd be two players having a dip.
the same as any other game of footy, there must be lots of reckless endeavours.

Rubbish! No one wants to see injuries like that but it's a contact sport and unfortunately these incidents happen. If a rule change meant player cannot dive on the ball, WTF are we going with football.

i've spoken to a few footy people since the incident (including bullies supporters) and not one has said hughes was reckless d/d.
you're on your own with this one.

oh and sffc4ever