Thread: McKinnon will never walk again

I must admit i feel for the Melbourne players involved at no stage would they have wanted this to happen it must be a hard thing to live with

Originally Posted by Tank

I didn't see the tackle, so what is the bloke on report for if it was not an illegal tackle, Regards Frank.

Good question. You should probably watch it then.

My opinion is that the NRL believe that they would not leave the room alive if they did not put him on report given the nature of the injury, no matter the type of tackle, and to be fair they'd be right. They are bound to investigate it.

Whether it was illegal will be determined by the judiciary.

Just because it 'may' be determined as illegal, doesn't mean it was a spear tackle. There are other illegal tackles.

Last, most league commentators agree the tackle was innocuous and the resulting injury was simply a tragic accident. Without being flippant, or cynical, the odds are if you play contact sport long enough there will be injury, and eventually serious injury, and no matter how much you try, you will not be able to legislate this out of the game.

cheers
Nick

is sad such a young man may be quadreplegic now. if the cord is not severed then he will recover either a little or a lot. but either way, he still has his whole life ahead of him. it iwll be tough at first but life can still be fufilling with disabilities

That is what I do not understand and medical reporters have not covered it - if the spinal cord is not cut - so I guess shocked and bruised so with time should recover and ideally with it mobility - I hope.

Garry

I'm not even vaguely a doctor, but I believe that damage to the spine can interrupt blood supply to the spinal cord, causing some of the cells to die. That can happen as a result of the accident or, if you're unlucky, during surgery when they're trying to reconstruct/fuse/pin the vertebrae.

The press should be giving him some time before making declarations about his prospects. With luck he'll make a full recovery (and the press will get to do their "miracle recovery" stories in due course).

Irrespective of if you're a fan of the meat heads game or not (guess which side of the fence I'm on) there's no place and no need for a tackle to be made like that. Once they have someone horizontal continuing to lift them further makes little difference to the outcome except for the increased potential for injury.

As for whoever said "it's only because he bent his head". Do you think a compressive injury would be any less damaging? In fact compression at that height and weight, damage would occur higher up the spine and have potential for compressive/crush injury of the nerves exiting the column.

Anyone taking part in a tackle like this should be out for a season (full count of games of a season). Second offence, out for life.

If the tackle was legal then it is time to review the rules and make these type of tackles illegal.
What next, build a coliseum and watch a "sport" like the Romans used to play?

The melbourne player got a 7 week ban for the tackle. not much comfort for alex and his family but in the context of it not being a deliberate act to harm him probably a fair sentence.