'Is he going to have to retire?': Jermaine McGillvary repeats call to stamp out hip-drop tackle after Mike Cooper injury

The 34-year-old expressed his frustration on social media after former England team-mate and current Wigan Warriors prop Mike Cooper sustained a season-ending ACL injury following a tackle by Morgan Knowles, branding the technique "absolutely disgraceful".

The St Helens loose forward was also involved in the challenge that left McGillvary nursing a serious knee injury last year.

Knowles was not cited for the tackle against Huddersfield in 2022 but has received a five-match ban in the wake of the latest incident, which McGillvary fears may force Cooper into retirement after going through a similar process himself.

"The same thing has happened to another player who is the same age I was at 34 and he hasn't got a deal for next year," said McGillvary.

"Is he going to have to retire? I was Mike Cooper last year and would have 100 per cent retired. I don't know what he's thinking or whether he's going to come back the same.

"Did Morgan Knowles mean to do it? I don't think he did at all. I don't know him personally but I know the head coach at Saints and a lot of the boys – they're some of the best professionals I've ever come across in sport.

"It's just a poor selection of tackle. At the end of the day, it's happened to two of us now and it's not good.

"I'd say 95 per cent of players or more live pay cheque to pay cheque. We might have nice things but if that pay cheque goes for two or three months, a few of us would be f***ed.

"Even though it is a contact sport and we know the risk, we still need to look after each other and do the right thing. It's a tough game and doesn't need to have sh**ty techniques in it."

McGillvary returned from his injury to start the season but has been restricted to three appearances so far due to niggles.

The winger may have come through the worst – both physically and mentally – but he expects to have long-lasting issues with his knee.

"It's awful," he said on the tackle technique.

"It's a tackle where the tackler doesn't have control of their body and all their weight is going through you.

"It was an unlucky tackle but luckily enough for me I've continued to play because in that changing room and in the weeks after, I was saying to Marlon (Billy) – our welfare officer – that I was going to have to retire if it was the ACL.

"Luckily, it was just a broken leg, full-on rupture of my MCL, PCL gone, meniscus tear and my ACL was swollen. The surgeon said it was an absolute miracle that my ACL didn't go.

"To this day, I have physio every morning and can't straighten my right knee. That's something I might have to live with."

McGillvary believes the only way to stamp out hip-drop tackles is to make players sit on the sidelines for longer through suspension.

"I reckon stiffer sanctions," he added.

"I don't think people mean to do it; it's just down to technique.

"When the opposition has the ball, every team is trying to make the game slower. It's how far you're willing to go to make the game slower."