NRL legend Gorden Tallis believes Roosters coach Trent Robinson got his post-match press conference comments on Dom Young’s send off last Friday night wrong.
Robinson was critical of the referee’s decision to send Young off for a high tackle on Bulldogs fullback Blake Taaffe, believing it should have been just a sin bin. Young has since accepted a two-game ban for the incident.
“Definitely sin bin, Blake’s got concussed from that. I don’t have all the send offs in mind going through my mind but we’ve had guys stay on the field, not even go for 10 for less,” Robinson said after his side’s upset 30-26 loss to the Bulldogs.
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“I feel like that was a bit over the top. If they come out and say that’s the new, there’s going to be a lot more send offs in our game.”
Discussing the incident on NRL360, Tallis was incredulous over Robinson’s comments.
“He knocked him out. What is Trent Robinson on?” Tallis said.
“He came in, went in to make a good shot but got it wrong. He slipped and got it wrong and knocked him out.”
Journalist Phil Rothfield reported that the NRL are investigating Robinson’s press conference comments, also offering an explanation for why the Roosters coach may have “boiled over”, pointing to an incident involving Jarome Luai from Round 2.
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“The NRL are investigating the comments. The fact he didn’t actually attack the integrity of the officials (is in his favour). I will not be surprised if he didn’t get a warning letter,” Rothfield said.
“Could I suggest why Trent might be boiling over? Didn’t Jarome Luai (hit a player) with a very similar swinging arm which took a player out of the game very early? I think you’ll find he did.
“And then in this match, and it doesn’t defend Robbo questioning the send off, that decision to sin bin Victor Radley was one of the worst I’ve seen.
“I think what happened is that Robbo got stirred up with all that emotion in the sheds and then he’s let loose.”
“You can understand it, but it doesn’t mean that it’s right,” Tallis added.
The Luai incident Rothfield is referring to occurred during Penrith’s win over Parramatta in Round 2.
The Panthers playmaker appeared to hit Eels centre Bailey Simonsson with a swinging arm in the opening minutes. Simonsson would fail a HIA soon after and not return.
Luai wasn’t sin binned but was charged, although he only incurred a fine.
NRL360 co-host Paul Kent said the referee got it right sending Young off, before continuing that the league should implement harsher penalties for high shots.
“I think it was a send off. We’ve seen so many high tackles in the game and they are common in the game,” Kent said.
“There was a time when we were much younger men that there was not anywhere near ad many high tackles. The whole tackling style was different. Now they are told to tackle over the ball so now you have a smaller landing area.
“The arm, I wouldn’t say swinging, but the arm was coming around and it hit him flush on the jaw. Taffee was unconscious before he hit the ground.
“I actually think if the NRL started bumping up penalties and started going back to what it used to be where they would be out for significant amounts of time, it will force the coaches to make them tackle differently and therefore you’ll then see a change in how they do it.
“You’ll then see much less concussions coming from these sort of tackles because the coach will end up saying, ‘boys, it’s just not worth 8 weeks on the sideline’
“If you put them out for 8 weeks, suddenly a coach is going to start saying ‘you’ve got to start tackling differently’.
“It’ll take time but they’ll get there.”
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