A community rugby league coach is teaching women and girls how to tackle safely in the gritty sport. There is a grassroots effort to hone in on technique, with women at greater risk of injury compared to men.
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00:00These rugby league players are putting in the hard yards.
00:07Most of them didn't have these opportunities growing up.
00:10Because I have an older brother I sort of always went to his games and I guess for females
00:15like contact sport didn't come in until we were older.
00:19And many have come from other codes.
00:21Doing sevens and playing with the boys 15 a side and then as you get older you're not
00:26allowed to participate with boys anymore.
00:28Bit nervous with the contact and not used to it, especially coming from cricket.
00:31Poor tackling technique is a growing problem.
00:34Coach Rob Bai and his community players in Sydney's West are confronting it head on.
00:40A lot of boys grow up with the ball in hand, not every single girl has that opportunity.
00:45He's taught me to put my body in front and get in the line of defence.
00:52In men's NRL, the defender is more likely to suffer a head impact event in a tackle.
00:58Limited research on women's rugby league shows both tacklers and ball carriers have an equal
01:03chance of a hit to the head about once every 30 minutes of play in the NRLW.
01:09Coaching females, very much the technical aspect, very much their feet, understanding
01:15where to put their head, where to put their shoulder, how to align themselves to generate
01:19more force and power.
01:21Developing that solid technique for a big hit starts at training, but it's also about
01:26creating the right team environment.
01:28Hold, hold, up.
01:30With the males they tend to just run at a brick wall if you tell them, but with the
01:33females it's very different whereas if you explain the why with trust and good connections
01:38then they're going to do whatever skills you set.
01:42Skills that elite players need to be faster, stronger and safer.