We are largely on the same page I think.I get what you are saying. I don't think anyone pre-meditates hip drops and no-one is seeing a defender slice through the line and thinking about how should I make this tackle. They are simply reaching out and doing what they can.
However...there was a shift away from legs tackles probably about 10-15 years ago due to the fast play the balls that followed (about the time I was finishing up playing footy at any meaningful level for reference of when I was playing). The result is this current generation no longer tackled legs, they grabbed and wrestled. The hip drop wasn't introduced to injure players, it was to better position yourself to wrestle. When this is what you practice it becomes what you do. Players now need to practice a different way to tackle so that their default is not a hip drop. That different way is the legs tackles that was taught 30 years ago when I was young.
P.s. I now feel like an old man.
It’s just another situation where the decision makers don’t have a feel for the game and it leads to confusion and p’s long term fans of the game off.