Stuart and Barrett say NRL risks becoming ‘OzTag’ as sin bin tally soars

Coaches Ricky Stuart and Trent Barrett have taken aim at the NRL as Magic Round’s sin bin tally reaches staggering heights.

Barrett's Bulldogs and Ricky's Raiders met during Magic Round.

A frustrated Ricky Stuart says the NRL’s crackdown on dangerous tackles will lead to a “completely different game of rugby league” if the criteria used for Josh Papalii send off becomes the new benchmark.

Papalii was sent off for a high tackle on Bulldog Tui Katoa, his absence and the earlier sin binning of Jack Wighton leaving the Raiders with 11 men on the field midway through the second half and spurring a miraculous 20-18 fightback win.

The pair were among four players placed on report during the match following the NRL’s crackdown on foul play, with Stuart and Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett lamenting the changes occurring in the game.

Stuart conceded Papalii hit Katoa high.

“But he was falling into the tackle and there are going to be a whole heap of send offs this year if that’s a send off incident,” Stuart said.

“I just hope they don’t change now if that’s the precedent.

“We’re going to find a completely different game of rugby league from what we’ve been following for many years.

“Josh’s incident, Jack getting 10 minutes for that, the game’s changed.”

Josh Papalii was marched from the field on Saturday afternoon. Digital image by Scott Davis � NRL Photos

Stuart understood the NRL’s reasoning.

“I know we’ve got to play to our mums and dads, I’m the first to promote the game. I want to promote the game to parents.

“But we have got a game that’s quite unique but we’ve got a game that’s not for everyone – it’s as simple as that.

“It’s a tough, brutal contact sport and if we want to take that away, let me know, I’ll start recruiting different players.”

Barrett agreed with the veteran coach’s assessment.

“I don’t like seeing uneven contests and even before these rules were in, the six to go rule has changed the game dramatically and we’ve seen some really lopsided results and this is just going to make it worst,” he said.

“If that’s what they want, then that’s what’s going to happen and I don’t know if that’s good for the game or not.”

Barrett said in a contact sport, it was hard not to touch the head or neck of a player when tackling.

“It’s impossible not to,” he said.

“There’s no thuggery in the game any more, there’s no swinging arms or elbows, it’s not like it was in the 80s.

“Occasionally there will be contact there – no one goes out to do it. It’ll turn into a game of OzTag if that’s what they want.

“We’re a great game but if you keep changing the rules, who knows where it will end up.”

Stuart said it was “sad” to be talking about the dramas given the character his team showed to break its five-match losing streak and spate of second-half fade-outs.

“With the talking about it, we’re giving other sports a leg up and that’s not what we’re here for,” he said.

“We’ve got a wonderful weekend of rugby league here and we want to promote our game but unfortunately, we’re talking about the wrong things.”

Want he wanted to highlight was the character of his players.

“Our club’s not broken, it’s a wonderful club, we’ve just been losing football games,” he said.

“We haven’t had any luck and we had no luck again today. Criticise me all you want for saying we’ve had no luck – yes we have been in poor form, we have played bad football at times but not for 80 minutes of every game.

“Fortunately through their culture and the spirit of the jumper and the player inside it we hung on.”

CANBERRA RAIDERS 20 (Tries: Harawira-Naera, Scott, Kris; Goals: Williams 4) def

CANTERBURY BULLDOGS 18 (Tries: Cotric; Meaney, Watene-Zelezniak; Goals: Averillo 3)

Originally published as Stuart and Barrett say NRL risks becoming ‘OzTag’ as sin bin tally soars