NRL high tackle crackdown has tongues wagging
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We've seen it in rugby, now rugby league's in the midst of a crackdown on high tackles, and one of the greats of the game is not happy.
18 players were sinbinned across the NRL over the weekend, 15 of them for contact with the head by the tackler of a ball-carrier.
Newcastle Knights great Andrew Johns, who's now a commentator, has seen enough.
"The breakdown of this sending players to the sinbin, is absolutely farcical," he said on Channel Nine's
Sunday Footy Show.
"It's gone beyond a joke. It is embarrassing," he said.
All eight games in round eight had at least one sinbin, with the most, three, coming in the Sea Eagles' win over the Panthers, and the Cowboys' victory against the Titans.
Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold wants action, but he's not sure what change there should be.
"There does need to be some sort of correction," he said.
"I feel like, yeah potentially (it) just needs to be looked at because there's some tackles that look very similar, and (while) some are getting sin binned, some aren't getting sin binned.
"I think it's a really tough job for the referees, I've got to say. They're only trying to officiate to the directives they're given from above," Seibold said.
The
Warriors' 26-12 win
, which has them in fourth place on the ladder, was also impacted.
Warriors forward Marata Niukore was sinbinned for high contact in the opening minute, and Knights' Leo Thompson followed three minutes later, also for high contact.
Photo:
© Photosport Ltd 2025 www.photosport.nz
Knights coach Adam O'Brien strongly believes not all indiscretions are deliberate, and the way those are being treated by the referee and the bunker, are the most frustrating.
"It's a hard game for these boys to play at the moment (because) we're cracking down on accidents," he said.
Photo:
© Photosport Ltd 2025 www.photosport.nz
"Accidents are going to happen when the game is this fast and there's that much fatigue.
"I understand we don't want to be hitting anyone in the head, but it's not part of the tip sheet to go out there and hit blokes in the head.
"Some are flat out unacceptable, but there are a lot of innocuous ones that are getting punished pretty hard," he said.
Where the NRL goes from here remains to be seen.
Johns, in the very least, wants an explanation from head office, as to why this crackdown has happened, and what the NRL wants players to do with tackling techniques, especially with one of the showpiece rounds of the season less than a week away.
"Next week we go into magic round. And for them to go out there and make a farce of this game will be disgraceful if it happens this week," he said
Magic Round is once again in Brisbane this year, with all eight games played at Suncorp Stadium across three days.
The Warriors are in action against the Cowboys on Saturday night at 7:30pm NZT.
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