NRL judiciary suspensions: Players risk being banned for start 2022 season

The NRL has issued a warning to badly behaved players: fix your discipline or risk being suspended next year.

Jack Hetherington leaves the field after being sent off. Picture: Alix Sweeney

The NRL has put misbehaving players on notice and warned them to clean up their behaviour following a shocking week at the judiciary.

A total of 22 charges were dished out following Round 21, resulting in 18 weeks worth of suspensions and $13,050 in fines after a wild weekend on the field.

The charges stemmed from high tackles, dangerous contact, contrary conduct, crusher tackles and dangerous throws.

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Tensions are running high in the NRL following the relocation of the entire competition to Queensland, players locked in restrictive bubbles and the finals race heating up.

Big name players including Matt Lodge, Tariq Sims, Angus Crichton, Api Koroisau, Kurt Capewell, Dylan Napa, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Kane Evans and Jack Hetherington were among those to cop suspensions.

NRL head of football Graham Annesley said the judiciary charge sheet was unacceptable and urged the players to address their ill discipline.

Bulldogs forward Jack Hetherington has been suspended again.

“It’s not acceptable,” he said.

“Aggression is fine, our game is based on aggression, but it needs to be controlled aggression.

“What we saw last weekend was a lot of incidents that weren’t accidents or misjudgements. They were incidents that could have easily been avoided.

“Hopefully the players and coaches have got that message.

“There is a lot of tension at the moment as teams jockey for positions in the top eight and to make the top eight.

“But they’re not going to help their cause if they’re conceding penalties, losing players to the sin bin and potentially having players suspended for foul play.”

NRL Head of Football Graham Annesley wants players to fix their behaviour. (AAP Image/James Gourley)

The Roosters will be without NSW Origin forward Crichton for three of the final four regular season matches while judiciary bad boys Lodge and Hetherington have been hit with two-game bans.

Controversial Cronulla sledger Will Chambers was the ‘victim’ in four charges while being hit with a contrary conduct charge of his own.

With the premiership contenders breaking away from the pretenders, there is set to be a number of meaningless games in the final four rounds.

The Warriors, Tigers, Cowboys, Broncos and Bulldogs are out of finals contention while the Titans, Raiders, Knights, Sharks and Dragons are jostling for two spots in the top eight.

Annesley said the teams out of contention risked being disadvantaged next season if they are stung at the judiciary in the final rounds.

“Even teams that can’t make the eight, you don’t want to be starting next season with your best players sitting on the sideline while they work off suspensions that carry on into next year,” he said.

“Everyone just needs to play the game as hard and tough as they’d like to, but within the rules. If they step outside the rules they’ve got to accept there will be consequences for that.

“We’ve had a few high (charge sheet tallies) this year, it’s unacceptably high.

“It’s not like we had 22 high tackles. The other things that we saw last weekend were in some cases just over-aggression and incidents that were unnecessary.”

Kane Evans lost his cool with Will Chambers.

The NRL has been accused of easing on its infamous high tackle crackdown which resulted in a spate of penalties, sin-bins and send-offs in Magic Round earlier this year.

Annesley said that wasn’t the case and the players had responded to the new interpretations.

“The referees are under the same instructions,” he said.

“What we have seen, that has been pleasing, since Magic Round is not as many of the same sort of severe incidents that require sin-binning and sending off.

“The players have certainly adjusted their tackling style, there’s no question about that.

“We will still see the occasional minor and incidental contact and the referees will deal with that. We’re still seeing players go to the sin bin, but the incidence of that has dropped.

“What we saw last week which concerned me was incidents other than high tackles which were completely avoidable and got players into trouble.”

Originally published as NRL judiciary suspensions: Players risk being banned for start 2022 season