{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,21]],"date-time":"2025-08-21T16:52:20Z","timestamp":1755795140574,"version":"3.44.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,25]],"date-time":"2025-02-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1740441600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["European Journal of Sport Science"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title><jats:p>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.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Design<\/jats:title><jats:p>Retrospective video analysis study.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>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.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The majority of tackles resulting in a potential head injury occurred in the initial tackle contact stage (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0590, 79.2%). The ball\u2010carrier was most frequently affected (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0372, 49.9%) compared to initial tacklers (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0213, 28.6%). The initial tackler was the most frequently impacting player (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0268, 36.0%), with the majority of potential head injuries occurring from direct head contact by the arm (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0230, 34.1%), shoulder (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0170, 25.2%) and head\/neck (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0145, 21.5%) of the impacting player. Head contact was present in 90.6% (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0675) of the tackles resulting in a potential head injury. Of the sample of tackles, 16.1% (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0109) of direct head contact events received a sanction from on\u2010field match officials.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>The initial tackle contact between the ball\u2010carrier and initial tackler remains the area of focus for research into potential head injuries in elite\u2010level men's rugby league, to improve awareness and understanding of the mechanisms of injury.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1002\/ejsc.12270","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,26]],"date-time":"2025-02-26T02:10:40Z","timestamp":1740535840000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Tackle Characteristics Resulting in Potential Head Injuries in Elite Men's Rugby League: A Video Analysis Study of 746 Tackles"],"prefix":"10.1002","volume":"25","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6402-2554","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"James","family":"Woodward","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Institute Ulster University  Belfast UK"},{"name":"Carnegie Applied Rugby Research (CARR) Centre Carnegie School of Sport Leeds Beckett University  Leeds UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4274-6236","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ben","family":"Jones","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Carnegie Applied Rugby Research (CARR) Centre Carnegie School of Sport Leeds Beckett University  Leeds UK"},{"name":"England Performance Unit The Rugby Football League  Mancheser UK"},{"name":"Division of Physiological Sciences Department of Human Biology Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town  Cape Town South Africa"},{"name":"Faculty of Health Sciences School of Behavioural and Health Sciences Australian Catholic University  Brisbane Australia"},{"name":"Premiership Rugby  London UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gemma","family":"Phillips","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Carnegie Applied Rugby Research (CARR) Centre Carnegie School of Sport Leeds Beckett University  Leeds UK"},{"name":"England Performance Unit The Rugby Football League  Mancheser UK"},{"name":"Uno\u2010X Cycling  Oslo Norway"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kevin","family":"Till","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Carnegie Applied Rugby Research (CARR) Centre Carnegie School of Sport Leeds Beckett University  Leeds UK"},{"name":"Leeds Rhinos Rugby League Club  Leeds UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3416-6266","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sharief","family":"Hendricks","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Carnegie Applied Rugby Research (CARR) Centre Carnegie School of Sport Leeds Beckett University  Leeds UK"},{"name":"Division of Physiological Sciences Department of Human Biology Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town  Cape Town South Africa"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ross","family":"Tucker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"World Rugby  Dublin Ireland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chris","family":"Bleakley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Institute Ulster University  Belfast UK"},{"name":"School of Health Science Ulster University  Belfast UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gregory","family":"Tierney","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Engineering Ulster University  Belfast UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_10_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjsem\u20102019\u2010000645"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bjsports\u20102015\u2010095295"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/001316446002000104"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/24748668.2015.11868853"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsams.2018.04.003"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsams.2023.09.001"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2519\/jospt.2016.7049"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsams.2006.02.009"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_10_1","unstructured":"Football League R.\u201cOn Field Compliance & Sentencing Guidelines. 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