NRL’s reliance on the wrestle could be solved by a return to the legs tackle Media Man Int

NRL’s reliance on the wrestle could be solved by a return to the legs tackle - 19th August 2015

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By Paul Kent

SOME years ago — it would have been somewhere between WrestleMania XXIX and WrestleMania XXX — the great Ron Massey had a simple idea to eradicate the wrestle in NRL.

“We need to bring back in the legs tackle,” he said. “Reward them for doing it.”

It fell on a thousand deaf ears.

Why listen to a voice from the past when the game was moving forward so fast?

There is growing belief around the game that the legs tackle is part of the solution to fix the over-reliance on wrestling infesting the game. A problem the NRL has no clue how to fix.

Just like the interchange, rugby league needs to go backwards before it goes forward.

The legs used to be a rugby league staple. Then players figured out that the quicker they got up to play the ball the more chance they had of finding a disorganised defensive line on the next ruck and so they started wriggling and kicking their legs like a short jolt of electricity was being shot through them.

Such was the volatility of his wriggling former Broncos winger Michael “Three Knees” Hancock might have caused several small concussions in the pursuit of a quick play-the-ball. They say Allan Langer was a foot taller before he mistakenly got in the way one afternoon.

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