Adam SutcliffeIs the Drought injuring our NRL stars?
July 18th 2007 03:05
OPEN FORUM
Wednesday's edition of theThe Daily Telegraph contained an interesting story regarding the high number of injuries sustained so far throughout the 2007 NRL season.
The story states that there is currently 75 first grade players unavailable through injury for this weekend's Round 19 action, with 22 of those players being of representative standard.
Cronulla Sharks coach Ricky Stuart beleives that the evolution in the speed of the game is a mian contributor to the high injury toll, with rugby league analysts such as Phil Gould declaring that the number of interchange players must be culled form the current number of 12, back to 8 interchanges.
Both of these philosphies carry alot of merit, but my cohorts and I came up with another explanation. While this notion may be entirely out of left field, we would like to offer this explanation up for debate -
With the majority of Australia currently in the midst of drought conditions, what are the chances of the lack of moisture in our playing fields, and indeed the current ground maintenance procedures, contributing to the increase in injuries to NRL players, and in particular the rise in knee injuries?
We know that this idea is definately 'out there' in terms of a definitive explanation, but just consider these statistics -
- The Gold Coast Titans currently have the worst injury toll of any NRL club (12 players unavailable), with 9 of those players unavailable through knee or lower leg injuries.
- The total number of players injured through knee or lower leg injuries heading into Round 19 of the NRL season is 34.
- Interestingly, the three Queensland NRL clubs (Gold Coast Titans, Brisbane Broncos and North QLD Cowboys) account for 17 of those 33 players, with 12 of those 17, suffering from knee injuries. Queensland is notorious for their dry weather conditions, with the south-east corner of the state currently under severe level 5 water restrictions.
What do you think - is the drought partly responsible for the rise in leg injuries, or are we barking up the wrong tree?
We would love to hear your thoughts, so please express your feelings in the comment section below.
Cheers,
StephenP
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