{"id":492881,"date":"2026-03-24T16:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T16:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/492881\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T16:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T16:22:10","slug":"injured-super-league-star-points-to-rule-change-as-key-contributor-to-comps-injury-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/492881\/","title":{"rendered":"Injured Super League star points to rule change as key contributor to comp’s injury crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Leigh Leopards\u2019 Joe Ofahengaue is one of almost a dozen players in his team alone who is sidelined currently, with Super League undergoing a seemingly unprecedented injury crisis.<\/p>\n

Full-back is the position that has been hit hardest, whilst the likes of Huddersfield Giants, St Helens and Leigh Leopards are among the three most impacted clubs, but is there any actual reason behind the current injury crisis<\/a>?<\/p>\n

That was something that Ofahengaue was asked when appearing on Sky Sports\u2019\u00a0The Bench<\/a>\u00a0podcast with the prop forward currently out with a calf issue, set to return in around two to three weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of it is luck, obviously,\u201d the 30-year-old admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a footy player, it comes down to your prep and how you trained over the pre-season can play a lot into it with your soft tissue injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also joked: \u201cI feel like living over here in the UK, the coldest country in the world, we should probably be starting our season in the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luke Robinson sacked, Hull KR struggling and why it could actually be Warrington Wolves\u2019 year? \u2013 click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Is fatigue causing Super League injuries?<\/p>\n

However, Ofahengaue also pointed to the new ruck speed rules that have seen the game speed up with the prop forward claiming that it\u2019s leading to fatigue and therefore bad tackle technique, something he believes could be leading to more injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlame the rules as well. I think players are coming under a lot of fatigue,\u201d Ofahengaue claimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of hip drop tackles are being seen more in the game, which happened in the NRL as well. When the game gets a bit quicker, technique goes out the window and players fall into those traps of getting their ankles taken and stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least two serious injuries have come off the back of hip drop-style tackles with Bradford\u2019s Dan Russell and St Helens\u2019 Jacob Host both suffering long-term injuries, with both their tacklers banned for two matches respectively.<\/p>\n

As for his own recovery, Ofahengaue explained how he\u2019d been working hard to ensure he\u2019s primed for when he finally gets the green light to return.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI hardly have a day off when I\u2019m injured because I know that nothing can ever beat the game speed and game fitness, so you need to stay on top of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leigh Leopards\u2019 Joe Ofahengaue is one of almost a dozen players in his team alone who is sidelined…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-492881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}