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Anthony Minichiello, the official face of the NRL, says the league has drawn a line in the sand and shown they will not tolerate players stepping outside of the rules.
The Sydney Roosters captain on Thursday declined to comment specifically on the length of Jordan McLean’s seven-week suspension for the three-man lifting tackle that left Newcastle back-rower Alex McKinnon with devastating spinal injuries.
Following the general consensus of the rugby league community, Minichiello said he thought the tackle was an “awful accident”, but he applauded the NRL for being firm in dealing with illegal play.
“I think the NRL are being pretty good on players, sort of creating these infringements,” he told reporters ahead of the Roosters’ showdown with Canterbury at Allianz Stadium on Friday night.
“In any case I’m talking about here, so there is a line drawn in the sand: if you do step out of the rules, action will be taken.”
Minichiello said he wasn’t sure if McLean’s ban would make defenders think more before effecting a tackle.
“To be fair, it happens so quick, it’s hard to pinpoint and blame Jordan McLean for what’s happened,” he said.
“I think it was just an awful accident that we don’t like to see in our game.
“It’s seriously a split-second decision. It happens so quick, so it’s hard to make a call there.”
There have been calls in the wake of the McKinnon tragedy to outlaw three-man – or gang – tackles, but Minichiello said that was a decision for the governing body.
“It’s hard to say,” he said. It’s not for me to make a call on that.
“We’ve just got to make a sure that we play the game within the rules.”
The Storm are considering appealing McLean’s suspension.
McKinnon remains in Melbourne’s The Alfred hospital in a serious but stable condition with a broken neck and facing the possibility of never being able to walk again.
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