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

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.