Monday Bunker: 'Shocking' new tactic a blight on the game

Just one round into the new NRL season, and a 'terrible' tactic has taken hold of the competition - prompting calls for an immediate crackdown before careers are ended. Monday Bunker is back, bigger than ever!

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One round into the NRL season and we’ve already seen a rise in ugly attacks on the legs of kickers – prompting calls for an immediate crackdown before careers are ended.

Controversial Brisbane prop Matt Lodge was the first into the spotlight when he laid out Melbourne Storm gun Cameron Munster with a late shot attacking the legs of the playmaker.

It was described as "shocking" and "terrible" by Daily Telegraph pair Phil Rothfield and Paul Crawley on the first Monday Bunker of the year.

Matt Lodge copped a two-week ban for this attack on Cameron Munster's legs.

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Lodge copped a two-week ban, while Manly prop Addin Fonua-Blake escaped a ban for a similar effort on Wests Tigers veteran Benji Marshall - but the consensus was that they got off lightly.

"He’s lucky to get two weeks," Crawley said.

"You’ve got to protect the playmakers. When Matt Lodge went in for that shot the other night on Munster, he went in to take him out. So did Fonua-Blake (on Marshall).

"(The lodge tackle) could end the career of one of the game’s genuine superstars and he cops two weeks."

Rothfield felt the NRL had missed a step by failing to issue a harsher crackdown.

"They should’ve gone heavier, because it’s round one and they could’ve delivered a message to everyone this weekend and maybe a four-week (suspension)," he said.

"Next weekend, it stops. You can pressure kickers other ways – you can go a bit higher."

Originally published as Monday Bunker: 'Shocking' new tactic a blight on the game