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ABC News
28-04-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
NRL world reacts as high-tackle crackdown sends 18 players to sin bin in round eight
The NRL world is reeling after a crackdown on high tackles that saw 18 players sent to the sin-bin in round eight. That is one more than the combined tally from the previous two weekends — which already came after interpretations were tightened — and equal to the tally from the first five rounds. Six players have accepted a combined 13 games' worth of suspensions from the weekend, with Penrith's Scott Sorensen and Tigers prop Fonua Pole taking their cases to the judiciary. From coaches to players to fans to expert commentators, there are concerns for the state of the game heading into the NRL's regular season showpiece at Magic Round in Brisbane later this week. 'A ball-ache to watch' The round kicked off with three Bulldogs and a Bronco sent for high shots, meaning Photo shows Sitili Tupouniua runs off the field in the rain as the referee signals a cross with his arms during an NRL game. Canterbury's first loss of 2025 comes at an even bigger cost, with Sitili Tupouniua, Josh Curran and Matt Burton facing a combined nine weeks on the sidelines even with early guilty pleas. Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo said the game was "hard to watch" and it seemed he was not just talking about seeing his team drop a game for the first time this season. "It was a ball-ache to watch for me, so I am sure everyone else felt the same," Ciraldo told reporters. Bulldogs utility Kurt Mann sounded resigned to the game's fate as he spoke to ABC Sport after the loss, which saw Sitili Tupouniua (five games), Josh Curran (three games) and Matt Burton (one game) suspended. "I guess it's the way the game is going. Some people don't really agree with it, a lot of people probably wouldn't, but that's just the way it is now," he said. ABC Sport is live blogging every round of the and seasons in 2025. On Friday, Knights coach Adam O'Brien said after losing prop Leo Thompson for 10 of the first 15 minutes of the 26-12 loss to the Warriors, that the rules protecting players' heads, 'Spoils the game' Gold Coast coach Des Hasler admitted his Titans were to blame for their 50-18 loss to the Cowboys on Saturday, but said the constant dismissals were ruining the game. "[I'm] not saying they're not deserved, but … it spoils the game of footy doesn't it? The sin bins, I think it's inconsistent but there's nothing we can do to control that. It spoils the game of footy," he said. In Manly's 26-10 win over Penrith, coaches from both teams were frustrated by the rules. Paul Alamoti was one of two Panthers binned in the 26-10 loss to Manly. ( Getty Images: Cameron Spencer ) Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold called for another rethink because the decisions were "hurting the product". "I have no confidence in looking at a tackle and understanding whether that's going to be a sin bin now or not. It's hurting the product," he said. While Panthers boss Ivan Cleary said the new interpretations were an over-correction. "It's not the way, I don't think, we want the game as a whole to look like but it's just how it is at the moment," he said. 'It's a disaster' And in the commentary box and the podcast seats, the criticism was even harsher. "The breakdown of this sending players to the bin is absolutely farcical. It's gone beyond a joke. It is embarrassing," rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns said on Nine's Sunday Footy Show. Photo shows A stylised graphic with three silhouettes of unidentified a female footballer, tennis player, basketballer ABC Sport and Deakin University have partnered to produce the first ABC Elite Athletes in Australian Women's Sport Survey. "I don't know whose decision it is, but you need to come out and you need to say why we're doing it, and you need to show examples and show players what you want them to do with tackling techniques because this is a farce." Four-time premiership winner Cooper Cronk said on Fox Sports the decisions were inconsistent and prompting players to fake injuries. "The issue we've got at the moment is there are players feigning injury, feigning contact," he said. "There's some going to the bin that shouldn't, there's some not going to the bin that should." Alongside him on the panel, former Kangaroos halfback Greg Alexander labelled it "a disaster". Latrell Mitchell was binned for a high shot on Melbourne's Sua Fa'alogo. ( Getty Images: Robert Cianflone ) Former Broncos and Warriors winger Denan Kemp was concerned for the fans who part with cash to watch disjointed games, with the bunker regularly stopping play to penalise tackles from minutes earlier. "Are we offering the product we promised the fans if we continue to go down this path? I don't think we are," he said on his Bloke In A Bar podcast. "And they spend their hard-earned cash every week, in a cost of living crisis. We got all these records and we like to talk about how great we are as a game and yet are we respecting the fans by sending blokes to the bin willy-nilly like it's nothing when they're the ones making all these records happen? ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that's making headlines. "If you say there is a problem, you should also offer a solution. And I'm yet to see the NRL go to clubs and say 'We've actually looked at a lot of technique and this is actually the safest technique to tackle with.' That's where I get frustrated." The NRL, for its part, appeared to acknowledge "a slight overreaction". "I get the frustration around the bunker intervening in play, that is certainly not something any of us want to see," NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said on 2GB on Monday. "There's probably been too many of those where that disrupts play and gets pulled back, and that's something we're going to work on." The league is heading into a massive weekend of football in Brisbane, with the Women's State of Origin opener at Lang Park on Thursday night, before Magic Round plays out from Friday to Sunday. The ABC of SPORT Sports content to make you think... or allow you not to. A newsletter delivered each Saturday. Your information is being handled in accordance with the Email address Subscribe ABC/AAP
News.com.au
28-04-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
‘It does not add up': Legends up in arms over bunker intervention as fears for Magic Round grow
Rugby league legends have slammed the 'farcical' scenes over the weekend that saw 18 players sent to the sin bin in round eight, with calls for the NRL to make changes heading into one of the biggest weeks of the season. Just day our from Magic Round, which was marred in 2021 by a shock crackdown which resulted in players being sent from the field for minor contact with the head, the issue is again creating concern. Player safety is at the heart of everything the NRL is trying to achieve with this tougher stance, but fans want to see some common sense shown with games seriously affected by bunker intervention for innocuous incidents that occurred in the previous set. 'The breakdown of this sending players to the bin is absolutely farcical,' Immortal Andrew Johns said on the Sunday Footy Show. 'It's gone beyond a joke. It is embarrassing. The over analysis and the overreach of the bunker in play ... the bunker should be used only for try-scoring opportunities unless it's a send-off. 'It's an out-and-out send-off and they miss it, then fair enough, come in and send the player off. 'Going back eight plays in a set of six where the referee doesn't see it, the touch judges don't see it, the players don't see it and to send someone to the bin is absolutely farcical.' Broncos legend Corey Parker was equally concerned with the inconsistency from the video referee, with the former representative forward stunned Bulldogs enforcer Sitili Tupouniua was allowed to stay on the field for lifting his knees in a tackle. Tupouniua was penalised at the time and was charged twice, with the knee lift set to cost him two weeks on the sidelines on top of the three matches he'll serve for a shoulder charge. 'There's an intent to lift his knee and there is absolute force, and he hits Piakura,' Parker said on SEN. 'The referees make a decision that that's not OK and we'll give a penalty to the Broncos and take the ball off you. 'If they (the NRL) are fair dinkum and you have a bunker… then that there is a send off every day of the week. 'Whether you agree with it or not, the intent to lift your knee and to hit someone in the head is not OK.' Parker said the lack of action in that instance compared to other sin bins for minor offences over the weekend was impossible for parents to explain to their children. 'Right then and there, they didn't do a thing so Sitili Tupouniua stayed on the field,' he said. 'Further on, he gets charged with a grade two contrary contact charge after the game, but nothing was done (on the field). 'If that hit him in the jaw or the side of the temple, for example, then we're talking about a completely different story. 'Yet we see from the NRL when someone grazes the nose of somebody that he's spending 10 in the bin. 'It just does not add up. 'If you're sitting there as a father and you've got a couple of kids alongside you and they see player A leave the field for a high shot and you explain to your children that it's not OK and they're trying to stamp it out. 'And then you see Sitili Tupouniua raise the knee which is a terrible act and he stays on the field. If your kids ask why he stays on the field, you've got absolutely no answer. 'It's a real challenge for the NRL at the moment, and they need to make a stance.'
Perth Now
28-04-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
‘Farcical': Legends fume over sin bin ‘joke'.
Rugby league legends have slammed the 'farcical' scenes over the weekend that saw 18 players sent to the sin bin in round eight, with calls for the NRL to make changes heading into one of the biggest weeks of the season. Just day our from Magic Round, which was marred in 2021 by a shock crackdown which resulted in players being sent from the field for minor contact with the head, the issue is again creating concern. Player safety is at the heart of everything the NRL is trying to achieve with this tougher stance, but fans want to see some common sense shown with games seriously affected by bunker intervention for innocuous incidents that occurred in the previous set. 'The breakdown of this sending players to the bin is absolutely farcical,' Immortal Andrew Johns said on the Sunday Footy Show. 'It's gone beyond a joke. It is embarrassing. The over analysis and the overreach of the bunker in play ... the bunker should be used only for try-scoring opportunities unless it's a send-off. 'It's an out-and-out send-off and they miss it, then fair enough, come in and send the player off. 'Going back eight plays in a set of six where the referee doesn't see it, the touch judges don't see it, the players don't see it and to send someone to the bin is absolutely farcical.' Broncos legend Corey Parker was equally concerned with the inconsistency from the video referee, with the former representative forward stunned Bulldogs enforcer Sitili Tupouniua was allowed to stay on the field for lifting his knees in a tackle. Tupouniua was penalised at the time and was charged twice, with the knee lift set to cost him two weeks on the sidelines on top of the three matches he'll serve for a shoulder charge. Sitili Tupouniua was penalised but wasn't sent to the sin bin for this action which has since seen him charged. Fox League Credit: Supplied 'There's an intent to lift his knee and there is absolute force, and he hits Piakura,' Parker said on SEN. 'The referees make a decision that that's not OK and we'll give a penalty to the Broncos and take the ball off you. 'If they (the NRL) are fair dinkum and you have a bunker… then that there is a send off every day of the week. 'Whether you agree with it or not, the intent to lift your knee and to hit someone in the head is not OK.' Parker said the lack of action in that instance compared to other sin bins for minor offences over the weekend was impossible for parents to explain to their children. 'Right then and there, they didn't do a thing so Sitili Tupouniua stayed on the field,' he said. 'Further on, he gets charged with a grade two contrary contact charge after the game, but nothing was done (on the field). 'If that hit him in the jaw or the side of the temple, for example, then we're talking about a completely different story. 'Yet we see from the NRL when someone grazes the nose of somebody that he's spending 10 in the bin. 'It just does not add up. 'If you're sitting there as a father and you've got a couple of kids alongside you and they see player A leave the field for a high shot and you explain to your children that it's not OK and they're trying to stamp it out. 'And then you see Sitili Tupouniua raise the knee which is a terrible act and he stays on the field. If your kids ask why he stays on the field, you've got absolutely no answer. 'It's a real challenge for the NRL at the moment, and they need to make a stance.'
West Australian
27-04-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
‘It does not add up': Legends up in arms over bunker intervention as fears for Magic Round grow
Rugby league legends have slammed the 'farcical' scenes over the weekend that saw 18 players sent to the sin bin in round eight, with calls for the NRL to make changes heading into one of the biggest weeks of the season. Just day our from Magic Round, which was marred in 2021 by a shock crackdown which resulted in players being sent from the field for minor contact with the head, the issue is again creating concern. Player safety is at the heart of everything the NRL is trying to achieve with this tougher stance, but fans want to see some common sense shown with games seriously affected by bunker intervention for innocuous incidents that occurred in the previous set. 'The breakdown of this sending players to the bin is absolutely farcical,' Immortal Andrew Johns said on the Sunday Footy Show. 'It's gone beyond a joke. It is embarrassing. The over analysis and the overreach of the bunker in play ... the bunker should be used only for try-scoring opportunities unless it's a send-off. 'It's an out-and-out send-off and they miss it, then fair enough, come in and send the player off. 'Going back eight plays in a set of six where the referee doesn't see it, the touch judges don't see it, the players don't see it and to send someone to the bin is absolutely farcical.' Broncos legend Corey Parker was equally concerned with the inconsistency from the video referee, with the former representative forward stunned Bulldogs enforcer Sitili Tupouniua was allowed to stay on the field for lifting his knees in a tackle. Tupouniua was penalised at the time and was charged twice, with the knee lift set to cost him two weeks on the sidelines on top of the three matches he'll serve for a shoulder charge. 'There's an intent to lift his knee and there is absolute force, and he hits Piakura,' Parker said on SEN. 'The referees make a decision that that's not OK and we'll give a penalty to the Broncos and take the ball off you. 'If they (the NRL) are fair dinkum and you have a bunker… then that there is a send off every day of the week. 'Whether you agree with it or not, the intent to lift your knee and to hit someone in the head is not OK.' Parker said the lack of action in that instance compared to other sin bins for minor offences over the weekend was impossible for parents to explain to their children. 'Right then and there, they didn't do a thing so Sitili Tupouniua stayed on the field,' he said. 'Further on, he gets charged with a grade two contrary contact charge after the game, but nothing was done (on the field). 'If that hit him in the jaw or the side of the temple, for example, then we're talking about a completely different story. 'Yet we see from the NRL when someone grazes the nose of somebody that he's spending 10 in the bin. 'It just does not add up. 'If you're sitting there as a father and you've got a couple of kids alongside you and they see player A leave the field for a high shot and you explain to your children that it's not OK and they're trying to stamp it out. 'And then you see Sitili Tupouniua raise the knee which is a terrible act and he stays on the field. If your kids ask why he stays on the field, you've got absolutely no answer. 'It's a real challenge for the NRL at the moment, and they need to make a stance.'
