This item i am posting is not a whinge or a point that is trivial & certainly not meant from one clubs position of point of view. Wigan came to Wakefield last night, agreed diminished in first team regular players, however, they came with a game plan mission to deliberately take out players when possible, this was enacted when players were held & could not move or defend them selves, ie, a third of fourth player attacking the knees, ! This was clear to see by all watching on. We lost four players + others were attacked.
My first point is that there is no directive rule/s for the referees to use to prevent this behaviour !
Therefore, my next point is the brand of rugby league needs all its stars to produce a quality product & not allow a team to deliberately weaken the product match by match.
My next point is that the coach of wigan was more than happy to let this continue !
The next point at issue is of the highest order, the injuries caused can, a) be career ending. b) reduce a career in wear & tear. C) reduce effectiveness of a player. The game is tough enough with out causing deliberate injuries.
Final point is, because players are not protected by officials, players become frustrated & re-act as occurred twice in the fixture of Wakey v Wigan, referees & officials then blame the players etc.
So, this issue as a whole will not change until the rules are changed to prevent it by sending off of reported for a ban/s to follow.
This behaviour is going to continue which pays dividends for teams who clearly operate the tactic/s with the sanction of the coach & club, be aware it may be your club & best players who receive the loss of your play makers & best players next.
The saddest thing in all this is that players who perpetrate this behaviour & actions have no concern for their fellow professionals ?
Equally, sad is the fact that the RFL & SL authorities will not act until a tragedy happens in the sport whilst the brand weakens week by week !

Wow what a great post

Never post on an empty head.

Some of the tackles were horrible but there is no way it was planned. They just started lashing out when yhry were being so dominated.
They need to be sealt with but you are seriously exaggerating the issue.
I bet there will be no more than 2 tackles in the whole game looked at.

the tackling technique is a plan action, whether there is an action to take out certain players does make me wonder

On a related theme, and taking team bias or specific events away from things - I believe this type of thing is one of the unintended consequences of the no punching rule. If the players were able to dish out some immediate retribution, I strongly believe it would eliminate, or drastically reduce the instances of;
Cheap shots like the ones mentioned by the OP
Play acting/diving
Wrestling tactics (wont eradicate it, but will get rid of arm bar, choke, joint pressure type moves)
The awful handbags we see whenever there is foul play, where gobby half backs and wingers come running in to have a little push and shove...

All of the above would be gone if the bloke could get up and swing a few.

I'm looking forward to what type of ban the Wigan player gets who attacked the knees of Fifita. Was it Powell? Looking back at a couple of bans for my team (Tigers) which were deserved IMO:- Millington - 2 games for punching:- www.totalrl.com/grant-millington ... -punching/ McShane - 3 games for use of forearm/elbow:- https://www.rugby-league.com/article/54 ... ane-banned Will the Wigan player get banned for 5 games ? Bet you all he doesn't.

I'm looking forward to what type of ban the Wigan player gets who attacked the knees of Fifita. Was it Powell? Looking back at a couple of bans for my team (Tigers) which were deserved IMO:- Millington - 2 games for punching:- www.totalrl.com/grant-millington ... -punching/ McShane - 3 games for use of forearm/elbow:- https://www.rugby-league.com/article/54 ... ane-banned Will the Wigan player get banned for 5 games ? Bet you all he doesn't.

Well, having watched & listened to TC on trinity tv, fifita knew what they were up to, more importantly TC early in the 1st half makes comments several times what there is always happening in tackles with players being held by two of three players & then someone always going in at speed late on the knees. Indeed the 58th minute he then says they have been trained for this to happen in all tackles !!!!!!
Therefore, in answer to pop tart is getting on pc & the person called post, you are calling players, CC & a former player they are wrong, a little weird I think !!!

It’s hardly a new tactic and we’ve seen it done by Wigan plenty of times. So the opening posters comment that it’s not just from one clubs view and next time it could be you....well you’re a few seasons late on both counts there.

Yep, your right about it happening before but that does not give an excuse to continue ! We all want the product to improve & not be deliberately degraded. If wigan continue on this line by the end of the season they will be stronger etc, etc, as previously stated, it needs stopping by giving power to the referees, to protect the game. & product but also played welfare !

Terrible thread title and almost unreadable opening post.

However, Fifita posted footage and its currently on the front page of the channel 9 website, so its made headlines. Horrible tackle with sole intent of hurting Fifita and could have caused serious injury. Whoever did it should get a long ban.

Tautai did the exact same tackle on Cuthbertson back in 2016, don’t recall any rival fans kicking up a fuss even though Brian McDermott highlighted we needed these tackles out of our game and said Wane defending Tautai was “a bunch of crap”. Tautai got a 1 match ban.