Tony Smith is on board with the clampdown on high tackles and believes that Rugby League must change as a sport to survive.
The start of the new season has seen the book thrown at offences, especially head impacts, with three red cards in the opening weekend of Super League alone for high shots as well as a multitude of sinbins.
Some coaches have questioned the impact of the harsher penalties on the spectacle of the game, but Hull KR coach Tony Smith – who accepted a suspension handed down to his prop Albert Vete last week and told him to work on his technique – says the game has no choice but to change.
“Our game can’t just be about the collisions and big impacts. It can’t be,” he said.
“If we can do that and do that safely, where it doesn’t involve injuring people’s joints or their brain, I think that’s what we’re saying we want.
“In order to do that, we may have to tone some of our game down.
“Any of the collision sports and sports that could be deemed as somewhat dangerous have got to clean up and make less dangerous and more appealing for participants, not just viewers.
“As long as we don’t lose some of the other things, creativity, passing the ball around. We need to make it more appealing in other ways and take out some of the big collisions and big impacts that could endanger that appeal.”
Smith did, however, query why the people supposedly being protected by the new rules – the players – were not consulted.
“The only criticism I could have is that it’s been told to us rather than us being part of the decision process,” he said.
“I don’t just mean coaches, but the participants. If there was some representation and involvement, maybe some of the coaches and players would have bought in earlier, rather than ‘this is what we’ve brought in and now you’ve got to adhere to it’.
“Sometimes people don’t like being told what to do, rather than being part of the process coming up with the decisions.”
Smith wants to see the game change but and he insists it should not matter what anyone – including himself – likes, but what is for the good of the game and its participants.
“I loved the shoulder charge and I love some of those big impacts, as long as it wasn’t at people’s heads,” he said.
“I like some of those big hits, but it isn’t just about what I like or what I find attractive.
“If it’s deemed as dangerous and it’s holding our sport back or putting our sport into a vulnerable position for its future, that we’re not going to be able to insure players or look after players or have enough players to play our sport, it means I’ve got to do without some of the things I like.
“We’ve got to make some changes to our rules and regulations that may make it more attractive in other ways. That’s what we’ve got to come up with.
“I’m an old traditionalist. I’ll go back and watch some of those old State of Origins, some of the big biff, and they’re fantastic, but times move on and things change.
“Laws change. Medical understanding and research changes. Understanding about things that happen to our brain changes.
“It’s about having good discussions and good debates about those things in order to come up with the right answers. That’s what we need to do.”
And Smith revealed that he cares so much about the issue because of his own personal experience of players suffering life-changing damage.
“I’ve questioned myself and my involvement about some things that, at different stages, have had big impacts on people’s lives, and whether Rugby League played a part in that,” he said.
“I’ve questioned my participation in being a coach and was I doing the right thing with players.
“When I questioned that, I thought the best thing I can do is help players get good technique so they don’t suffer injuries.
“Rather than walk away, I shouldn’t promote things in our game that could hurt people, and I’ll try and come up with ways of preventing people from getting hurt, by having good technique.
“That’s what my answer to myself was when I questioned some of these things.
“One of the things that I’m referring to is Mose Masoe’s injury. After that I had some thoughts about whether I should be encouraging young people to play our sport when these things can happen. You’ve got to question yourself.
“But I spoke to some pretty wise people around me who helped me understand that I can help people not get in those situations.
“By the way, Mose’s wasn’t a bad technique thing, it was a freakish thing. But when you see someone you know walk out of a ground after a game, you’ve got to question some of your involvement in it.
“All we’re trying to do, I think, is help more people to walk out of our dressing rooms after games and have happy lives after they finish playing.”
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