The NRL has admitted the Bunker is playing too big a role in the game and vowed to limit its ability to stop play when high shots are missed live.
But head office are still denying there’s a head high crackdown happening, despite 15 players getting sin binned for it throughout Round 8.
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NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo instead says it’s a “slight over-reaction” after several incidents were missed earlier this month.
Abdo also said the onus was on the players to correct their tackling technique, with head high shots almost doubling on this time last year.
“There’s been no crackdown, and there’s been no policy change,” Abdo told Mark Levy on radio station 2GB.
“A couple of weeks ago we had a round where the refs missed a few high tackles that should have been sin-binned.
“We communicated through the clubs saying, ‘That’s not the standard, the standard is what is has always been – it’s been consistent the last couple of seasons’.
“What we’ve seen now is a slight over-reaction the other way, which is unfortunate. I get the frustration around the Bunker intervening in play. That’s certainly not something any of us want to see.
“I think there has been too much intervention. The Bunker is meant to intervene if there is a serious act of foul play or there’s a howler. We don’t want the howlers missed. But there has been too much intervention.
“There have probably been too many of those where (the Bunker) disrupts play and it gets called back. That’s something we’ll work on.
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“We’ve had some terrific football, but we’ve also seen a huge increase in the number of high tackles this season.
“Last year up until round eight, we had 200 high tackles. Now we’ve had 379. With that is going to come an increase in penalties and sin-bins.
“We’re also calling on the players and clubs to be more disciplined, and always think about player safety as part of how they prepare for a game.
“It’s a collective responsibility. It’s a fast game, it’s an insane game, and we want to make it, as far as possible, a safe game. The onus is on all of us to protect players. In this particular case, the focus has been on ensuring we reduce, as far as possible, head-high tackles.”
Abdo said he hoped there wouldn’t be any sin bins at Magic Round this weekend but remained realistic.
“We don’t want to see any penalties for high tackles or any sin bins,” he said.
“But the policy will remain the same. If there is direct forceful contact (to the head) with no mitigation, there’s a risk the player will be sent to the bin and charged by the match-review committee.
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“That’s always been the case. What we don’t want to see is too much intervention, and taking the play back if it’s missed live. It will be reserved for serious acts of foul play.”
It comes after Immortal Andrew Johns slammed the NRL for the sin bin crackdown.
“The breakdown of this sending players to the bin is absolutely farcical,” 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.”
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