sport news First the chicken wing, then the crusher - now THIS: The Storm find a new way ... trends now
The NRL says Brandon Smith has no case to answer but Cowboys fans and NRL analysts are concerned the Melbourne Storm hooker has unleashed a new form of wrestling tackle designed to injure players.
North Queensland Cowboys fans were left fuming after two tackles from the Storm rake left State of Origin hopeful Kyle Feldt and star co-captain Jason Taumalolo with medial ligament damage to their knees.
Feldt will miss six weeks with his Origin dream in tatters while Taumalolo could miss one to two games.
Smith dove at the legs of both Feldt (top) and Taumalolo which resulted in the player tackling them high forcing them in another direction. Both players were injured from these tackles
In both incidents, Smith drove through hard at their lower legs while the player above forced them in the opposite direction.
The NRL has already outlawed wrestling techniques including the chicken wing and crusher tackles and now NRL 360 co-host Paul Kent is concerned they may have another tackle that needs to be stamped out before more players are injured.
As it currently stands, there is nothing illegal in the way Smith was tackling.
'They were reviewed,' Annesley told the Daily Telegraph.
'They are just legs tackles, there’s nothing out of the ordinary.
'It’s not like they held another player and he came in late. In an old-fashioned sense we would have said great tackle.
'There’s no evidence I can see or the Match Review Committee saw that was an illegality, or hold, or wrestling movement.'
The Cowboys are understood to be privately fuming at the tactics that took the gloss off their big win over the Storm.
'The tactics were to go low and hard into the legs,' a Cowboys insider said.
'Most teams coach their guys to hit hard around
