Hip-drop tackles not deliberate but most avoidable: Cook

Rabbitohs hooker Damien Cook says players understand they have a duty of care to protect opponents from hip-drop style tackles after coach Jason Demetriou declared most incidents could be avoided following Friday’s big win over the Bulldogs.

The Bunnies lost Izaac Tu’itupou Thompson to an ankle injury with Bulldogs rookie Jacob Preston placed on report and sin-binned for an alleged hip-drop on the winger in the second half.

Returning Rabbitohs forward Tevita Tatola also shook off a recurring knee concern in the early stages of the match, which Demetriou said was one of “at least four” hip-drop tackles that occurred in the game.

“It’s such a fine line what we’re trying to do,” Cook added post-match.

“We saw a bit of a crackdown in 2021 and it went away for a bit, but it is starting to come back into the game again.

“We’re obviously out there trying to beat each other up but no one is going out there intentionally trying to hurt someone on purpose.

“We try and recognise it straight away and no doubt other teams are as well. You’ve got to understand players are trying to do their job and bring a player down to the ground.

“If we see anyone do that [at training] there’s a blow-up straight away to get into them. Sometimes guys get too competitive and put themselves into the wrong position.”

Demetriou said no club would be practicing any methods to illegally take out players’ legs but added a lot of incidents came down to tackle technique.

“Partly I think it is just a poor habit,” Demetriou said.

“I think it is a habit that creeps in because you are trying to pull him down, but one of the things we talk about is keeping your feet in the collision as long as you can, so that you can get better control.

“But sometimes as a player you have got to accept that you are not in a great position, but to drop your hips on the back of someone’s legs…look, I don’t think any player is going out there to do it intentionally.

“This is not me having a crack at anybody in particular or Canterbury, it is just as a game I think we can do a bit more to avoid it.”

The incidents soured an otherwise impressive afternoon for the Rabbitohs, who bounced back from last week’s sub-par defeat to Melbourne by running in 50 points.

Latrell Mitchell’s stirring effort were among the highlights with the star fullback celebrating his 150th game in style.