The sin bin is yet again looming as a hot topic for debate on the rugby league landscape.
St George Illawarra’s night was sealed last Thursday when Jaydn Su’A was given 10 in the bin for a high shot and Cronulla ran in two tries while he was off to establish a handy lead they never surrendered.
The Warriors did well to defend when down to 12 in the final 10 minutes of their loss to the Wests Tigers while Marcelo Montoya was off due to a professional foul.
But is the sin bin being used enough, too much or has the NRL got the balance about right?
The Roar experts have their say and if you’d like to do likewise, fire away in the comments section below.
Less. It is probably too great a disadvantage. The attacking teams that are well organised get too great an advantage. Genuine professional fouls should always result in 10 in the bin but the line-ball ones, I reckon a penalty is sufficient.
More, in the case of referee abuse. The whistleblowers cop way too much in the way of backchat and outright dissent from players. If they are on the receiving end of verbal abuse, they need to show the player who’s boss – if they don’t respect the referee in a professional way, teach them with a 10-minute lesson.
Keep as is. The game changes too much as it is with knee-jerk reactions. Let each ref adjudicate on the fly. It is, after all, their job. The game can’t be perfect. “Consistency” is impossible. And what people mean is “uniformity”. And who wants that? It’s boring.
More. Sin bins are great. We should use them more. If it were up to me, they’d be used a lot more liberally in the professional foul area, because there is a definite policy of slowing the ruck down that takes too long to have an effect. Yes you, Sydney Roosters. If I were a coach, I’d tell my players to repeatedly slow the play-the-ball down in my own end because currently the punishment is so light that it’s worth the risk.
More. The NRL should use the sin bin more, with professional fouls, repeat infringements and foul play – careless and reckless – all being worthy of 10 on the pine.
More. If a player has done something that warrants a sin binning, then off they go.
There needs to be a clear list of actions that receive 10 minutes – contact with the head, cannonball tackle, professional foul that doesn’t result in a penalty try, third man into a scuffle, repeat infringements, dangerous tackles (like lifting) etc, and the referee needs to stick with them. Intentional or not, if the end result is a sin bin then players will quickly realise they need to clean up their acts.
More. Absolutely we should be using the sin bin more. Player health and wellbeing is important and a tool like the sin bin, which negatively impacts your teammates is a good deterrent to preventing professional fouls and dangerous contact. Refereess should be given the support they need to use the sin bin when appropriate.
Less. Considering the fact that the use of the sin bin remains one of the most inconsistent applications of NRL rules, expanding its use would do little more than worsen that reality and annoy fans even more.
Subtle changes week to week and from referee to referee fuel a mistrust in officialdom. Offences other than professional fouls should see the player reported and out of the game, with a replacement permitted and an interchange wasted.
Keep as is. I think they’ve got the amount of sin bins about right. The issue is the inconsistency of when someone cops 10 minutes – they really need to be more consistent around what deserves time off the field and what can be sufficiently dealt with via a penalty.
Yes, yes and yes. Want to get serious about stopping poor on-field behaviours? Bin everyone who deserves it, bin them early and bin them often. Send them off too if it’s egregious enough. I hope beyond hope the NRL would get serious about bins and send-offs but time after time they shirk it. It’s obviously too hard for them, plus it means they’ll have to back in their referees which they most definitely don’t want to do.
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.open('POST', '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', true); request.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded;'); request.onload = function () { if (this.status >= 200 && this.status
JennyFromPenny
Guest
I vote more, or less, the same.
KenW
Roar Rookie
I don't particularly have a problem if they say high tackle = sin bin. They did that last year and my only complaint was that they would inevitably wind it back, which they did. Now it's just a lucky dip - some teams/players just seem to have more tickets in the draw.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I thought Su’a was rough against the Panthers but agreed with his binning against the Sharks… until you get to the end of the weekend and there’s been another half dozen similar tackles with nothing done Su’A may have joined the Jack Hetherington club
The Barry
Roar Guru
Great comment… there’s not a magical number. I agree with Matt in the article consistency is impossible but that doesn’t mean a lucky dip is acceptable It’s true of penalties in general. Teams can be offside for 24 plays in a row but them for some reason the 25th gets penalised…
The Barry
Roar Guru
That’s not a bad idea… particularly if the NRL is thinking of upping the ante with sin bins (which they need to do in order to be consistent) Penalises a team but doesn’t lead to that period of two or three tries in ten minutes that can ruin a contest… which is the reason refs and the NRL are reluctant to use the bin as it should
Adam
Roar Guru
And I do get it, for the most part. But I completely object to how coaches have been and continue to cheat around player injuries/HIAs/trainers stopping games. To me that kind of stuff should be above bending the rules.
Tony
Roar Guru
:laughing:
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Id go so far as to say their status as a coach is clearly related to their ability to exploit weaknesses in the rules, not play according to the rules. They are like tax lawyers.
Succhi
Roar Rookie
Since the sin bin was introduced the game is a lost quicker. Bring back the 5 min sin bin and use it more. And add on top of it the time it takes the player to get off the field.
Adam
Roar Guru
Unfortunately coaches have really shown they don't even regard the rules.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
1000%. A professional foul is still a professional foul even if it doesn't achieve its aims. Players need a strong disincentive to not want to commit them in the first place.
KenW
Roar Rookie
The problem isn't more or less. It's that there's a massive difference between 10 in the bin and a penalty - so regardless of where the line is drawn it has to be firm. This nonsense that Saints have dealt with 2 weeks in a row of being put massively behind in games due to actions that don't earn sin bins in other games in other weeks, or for other players in other jumpers, has to stop.
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
Given that some guys over the years have been reported twice in a match and never got a rest in the bin you can't understand the logic sometimes . My opinion re 2 reports on the same match means red card . Not sure if they're instructed to make matches more competitive . The trouble is there is a be rule change every week . V'landys wanting to change the scrums is on the agenda . Good old days repeated infringements meant send off particularly hookers. But the scrums are a joke and they want to change to a bigger joke . If we have to more bins there will be more moaning then they'll back off . Consistency is what the fans want .
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
:laughing: Note I said "about right"! There was a game a week or 2 ago where the D got a 'next one's a yellow' warning and then the next one was 'next one's a yellow' again!
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
Are you saving up to buy a paragraph, Rob? :laughing:
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
The sin-bin is a pathetic joke as long as there are glaring inconsistencies in it's application and teams like the Storm and the Panthers are let off with warnings after severe or repeated infringements. The fact that Nelson Asofa-Solomona got off with only a caution and a fine instead of being sin-binned and eventually suspended is clear proof that At best, the system is critically flawed and at worst, it is utterly corrupt.
The Sporacle
Roar Rookie
I think it needs to be used better, the one that kills me is the extended hold down when a break is made and the defence is short, play on and let the attacking side take an advantage for the rest of the set. Set ends in points, happy days and you good sir are off to the bin, no points and guess what.... bin. :thumbup:
Scott Pryde
Expert
I just want to see consistency... When Jaydn Su'a gets sin binned twice in two weeks but Nelson Asofa-Solomona somehow avoids it for taking a bloke's head off... Need I say more?
Muzz
Guest
I like the way the game is going this year. The sin bin is about right. Allowing teams to semi wrestle without continuous set restarts is stopping the boring blow out score lines of last season.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
There should be more: professional fouls, backchat (though refs tend to let the players nget away with this, there is provision to march the team 10 metres). Send offs are rarely seen. If foul play would see a suspension, the player should be sent off. Sadly referees seem intimadated by commentators, coaches and other media if sin bin/send offs are used.