Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
Aussie rules gives me the shits: do they count that in their stats?Aussie rules has a higher risk of all serious injuries - from concussions to limb and joint injuries that require surgery. Without having the data, I suspect that the only area in which the rugby codes have a higher risk would be in the catastrophic spinal injuries - and these are thankfully extremely rare.
Aussie rules does have a history of catastrophic spinal injuries: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-01-08/player-suffers-spinal-injury-in-ntfl-match.
This is a bit out of date: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2005/182/11/spinal-cord-injuries-australian-footballers-1997-2002
Doesn’t reflect the major change to scrum engagement but show that RU got its injury rate down to a similar level to AFL, at least as I read the tables.
There is little doubt in my mind that no parent who expresses a preference for Aussie rules over rugby on the basis of a lesser risk of injury has informed him or her self about the real relative risks.
As I once hard John yeo say of our game “ your at more risk of quadriplegia driving to the game than playing it” and he is/was by no means a supporter rugby.