ABSTRACT
Rugby league is a collision sport with players involved in intermittent passages of play involving high intensity sprinting, passing, physical collisions and tackling, interspersed with low intensity walking and jogging throughout an 80 minute game period (Gabbett, 2005; O'Connor, 1996). Each team consists of 13 players on the field at any one time and four substitute players, with each team allowed 10 interchanges during the game. Rugby league has a high rate of injury. However, the majority of previously published papers report injuries from a small sample rather than all teams over an entire competition (Gibbs, 1993; Orchard, 2004; O'Connor, 2004). The aim of this study was to identify the incidence, site, nature and risk factors of injuries sustained by the three playing positional groups in the 2009 National Youth Competition (NYC) and National Rugby League (NRL) season.
