It’s taken years, but it finally looks like there’s a sliver of hope for those of us who want the NRL to enforce stronger on-field punishment for high contact.
And as usual, it’s kicking up a hell of a debate.
Cronulla Sharks forward Siosifa Talakai was sent to the sin bin by referee Chris Butler for a monster hit on Bulldogs forward Matt Doorey during the first half on Saturday.
Talakai has subsequently been given a grade three charge by the match review committee and faces a six-week ban, early plea gets him four.
Whatever your opinion on whether it was a ‘genuine’ shoulder charge or not, you cannot deny it deserved 10 in the bin. Doorey was hit high. Doorey got up, played the ball out of muscle memory, then staggered around as a trainer tried to get him off the field.
The Bulldogs forward then failed his head injury assessment (HIA) and took no further part in the game.
You might detest the fact Talakai got punished at all for what was a spectacular piece of play, and that’s fair enough. We’ve all grown up with a game that showcased massive hits like that.
Hell, some players made a career of flying out of the line to put a shot on the ball carrier. It used to be open season, but things are different now.
If you want real proof of this, observe the sin binning of New Zealand Warriors player Josh Curran, sent to the pine for what was for a 99 per cent legal tackle that unfortunately made contact with the head of Melbourne Storm winger George Jennings.
“It’s been reviewed, contact has been made with the head and the shoulder,” referee Matt Cecchin said as he benched Curran.
That’s the key point. Curran went to the bin, George Jennings didn’t come back after failing his head injury assessment (HIA).
So it seems players are going to be punished for making head high contact, accidental or not. It won’t always be a deliberate dog shot, in fact on most occasions it’ll be a result of poor tackling technique or lazy defending.
This was among a few things Roosters coach Trent Robinson spoke on after hits on Josh Morris and James Tedesco during his club’s win over the Dragons.
Like many others, Robinson was rightly unimpressed with St George Illawarra winger Jordan Pereira’s high hit on Roosters fullback James Tedesco, a shocking effort which should have seen him sent off rather than just out for ten minutes.
Referee Ashley Klein and his bunker colleague Henry Perenara bottled the send off call – a baffling decision when you recall it was Klein who sent off Canterbury’s Jack Hetherington for a high shot last week.
“We don’t need the judiciary to teach them lessons,” Robinson said. “We need the on-field refs so that the mothers and the parents at home understand the punishment happens right then and there, right in the moment, not on Tuesday night – they don’t watch Tuesday night, the watch in the game.
“We’ve got to make sure we protect the brutality that our game’s played with and why people watch, but they need to get their lessons on-field about how to get down – how to get lower, get your tackle tech in a better position, because they’ll punish their team on that night.
“If you get down to 12 players versus 13 because you’re just a bit loose with your tackling and you’re copping guys hard and high, then they need to be down to twelve. That’s when we’ll get our real lessons, and that’s when we’ll get people knowing we’re serious about it.”
Pereira should be suspended for a long time, and you can expect his teammate Mikaele Ravalawa to cop a holiday too for a shoulder charge on Josh Morris.
Normally when we see a raft of sendoffs or sin bins there’s much wailing and gnashing of teeth about how the game has gone soft, the refs have lost the plot or some such. But it feels different this time.
People are more aware of the long term damage to players from head shots and the Australian Rugby League Commission is very aware of the risk to the game both financially and from a participation aspect. Dinosaur attitudes like Phil Gould’s ‘doctors and lawyers are killing the game’ garbage are slowly being overtaken by reality.
That’s why Australian Rugby League Commission Chair Peter V’landys was clear a couple of weeks ago that the game expected a strong reaction to foul play and high contact.
“We want to encourage the referee and the bunker to sin-bin and send off players for foul play, absolutely,” V’landys said at the time.
“We’ll encourage the referees to use the personnel and technology they have in the bunker, which is looking at injuries and concussions. We’ll speak to head of football Graham Annesley and if it’s foul play they should be sin binned, especially if it causes the player to be off the field for the rest of the game.
“We have the personnel up there, we have the technology and if there’s foul play, then there should be penalties, such as a sin bin or send off to introduce the 18th man.”
Will this new outlook from the NRL be consistent? Of course it won’t. Some players who get hit will bounce up and play on, others will be out for the afternoon and possibly longer from seemingly innocuous or accidental contact. Places like the Roar will rage with debate about the punishment of one hit over another.
NRL referees have long been reluctant to sin bin or send players off, no matter the offence. Some of the situations that had led to are a shocking look for a game trying to prove it is safe and ‘clean’ for juniors to get into.
So keep sending and sitting players until they learn not to hit the head. It’s a good step to forcing clubs and players to take a good look at how they attack the ball carrier to protect them and themselves.
Pat
Guest
They only need too penalise deliberate high contact from either an attacker or a defender. Accidental contact should not be punished this goes for players who fall into high contact as being accidental. They need to recognise milking and playing for the penalty and reverse penalise players going for that. Most importantly if a player is injured from deliberate foul play, and misses 10 weeks recovering, then offender should also sit out for 10 weeks. I'm sick of seeing foul play resulting in a 2 week suspension when the penalty for the fouled player is 10 weeks recovery on the sideline.
Pat
Guest
Teddy deliberately fell into that tackle to milk the send off and change the momentum when they were struggling. It showed his experience and lack of character. That moment changed the game and handed them the win.
Pat
Guest
Good point, are they going to start penalising players who lead with the elbow or hip into the head of the defending player? It's a known tactic of some of the more grubby players like JWH.
Pat
Guest
They haven't got the balance right for many years. The blatant and deliberate grubby high shots of Les Boyd and Adrian Morely type players went largely unsanctioned and sent the wrong message. Now they're trying to reverse the direction but have swung too far the other way, taking into view all and sundry high contact even accidental or deliberate milked falls into high contact by attacking players. Unless it's a deliberate high contact it should go unchecked by the ref's. Meanwhile the NRL commentary crew are celebrating Galen getting knocked out against Huni like there's some exception to getting in the boxing ring? What message are they sending about headknocks here?
Adam
Roar Guru
I came here to say back to say that the NRL is stuffed as long as commentators like Gus continue to trot out the line, 'but it's a contact sport' as if it is some justification to take people's head off....
AJ Mithen
Expert
Red - I reckon head office will introduce 4x20 minute quarters for NRL matches at some point in the next 2-3 years. More rest for players, more commercials for broadcasters, more money for head office. Everybody wins!
c
Roar Rookie
concussion is unavoidable in contact sports afl has had about 32 concussions this season
AWesternRed
Roar Rookie
Reckon Head Office or their broadcast partners would ever countenance a reduction from 80 minutes to 70 then? IMO they should do both. Increase the bench and reduce the playing time.
KillaKanga
Roar Rookie
Easy way to stop it..... Minimum - 10 weeks. Maximum - de-registration of contract. Watch how fast high shots stop
Chris Love
Roar Guru
A baffling decision AJ? You honestly can’t see the significant difference between the Hetherington and Perrera hits? I warned of this last year. Be careful what you wish for. Most of these send offs will come from situations where the tackler does everything right
mbp
Guest
St George Illawarra winger Jordan Pereira’s high hit on Roosters fullback James Tedesco..... This was a unfortunate high talkle. tedesco was falling to the ground..... all high talkles are NOT the same. some are vicuous and deliberate and some are lazy and/or due to poor technique. others are completely accidental due to the attacking player falling to the ground. the NRL needs to be careful about who gets a big suspension and who get a short one. players that do a vicious deliberate high tackle or throw punches... PUNISH them... suspend them, scrub them out...!
Geoff Parkes
Expert
Fully agree, Nathan. I should have posted my reply to AJ, to you...
Geoff Parkes
Expert
You don't even need to be a true cynic, mate. Just an observer of history. :laughing: Look, if the NRL are really serious then I'll jump on the bandwagon and give them a slap on the back. But it's a dog's breakfast at the moment. They could fix that in an instant by leading and being directive about what the framework is. The fact that they're not doing that I think reflects two things; their contempt for the referees, and what you said... 'let's get a feel for what public opinion is before we do anything concrete'
Nathan Absalom
Roar Guru
Agree with this completely. There's some sort of crackdown, but the specifics of it seem to be "we'll tell you after each incident". It's hard to tell if no-one wants to take responsibility for making a decision, they're waiting to guage public opinion or it's all a bit too hard and they hope a few send offs will keep the problems at bay.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
Great to see offending players being sent off again & player’s welfare being the priority. Football doesn’t need to be played to that level of physicality for fans to enjoy it & go to matches. I still remember back in 2015 seeing a young Dragons bench player named Tyson Frizell rising up & slam his swinging arm straight into the head of Tim Browne a 6″4 prop whilst he was running the ball back in an upright straight line. Browne left the ground in a medicab & didn’t play for the next 2 weeks. Frizell got to stay on the field & was put on report. He later pleaded guilty & got his sentence reduced from 3 to 2 weeks. I remember Peter Sterling saying at the time “if a player isn’t going to get sent off for that, I’d hate to see what has to happen to a player for someone to be sent off”. Gus concurred by saying that if a player isn’t sent off for that ugly act, why do we have the rule?
JGK
Roar Guru
Agree. Fatigue doesn't make for better games and eventually it will lead to PEDs.
JGK
Roar Guru
Teddy clearly fell into the tackle. Pereira himself was crouching as he hit him.
Adam
Roar Guru
I think the guidelines could be easily adapted for League. Just a matter of appetite from someone in power to make the appropriate adjustments.
Soda
Roar Rookie
Rellum I think that is a really good point. The definition of a shoulder charge has changed somewhat overtime. My understanding of a shoulder charge back in the day was when the arm was tucked in, braced for contact and all the weight and energy placed behind the shoulder. I'm probably wrong though
AJ Mithen
Expert
If I were a true cynic Geoff I'd think it was a kite flying exercise to gauge the public/media reaction. Luckily I'm a glass half full man!