You are absolutely correct.I tend to avoid topping my plants these days whenever possible. I find my plants get way more broken branches when topped. They seem to split right at the Y that forms after topping, usuall when the plants are heavy with flower. Add rain and wind to the equation and bad things can happen. That said these lines VermontMan works have incredibly strong branches. I’ve grown PS and GMG the last few years and I can’t remember losing a single branch off them.
When I get plants that are multi branched and big I put a five foot pole or stake in the center And tie up with a good strong jute just making two or three circles around the plants helps immensely and the little bit of effort is a terrific measure to keep those towering spears from snapping over.
Also effective is just tie branches back to main stem. You can also just reienforce beteween the big Y's with Jute or rope.
I have also tied back together split plants at the trunks and they have healed with great success on what looked like it was a total loss. Cannabis is a very
resilient plant.
Last year a good friend's Grape plant split down the middle, which could have been easily repaired, but she cut it down premature, before she told me, and it certainly could have been repaired.