Andrew Johns’ commentary boycott as NRL boss responds to sin bin crackdown
It’s been revealed Andrew Johns became so angry at the NRL’s “farcical” crackdown he staged a commentary boycott over the weekend.
NRL
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The NRL has conceded the use of the Bunker needs to be tweaked as details emerge of Andrew Johns’ commentary boycott following a slew of sin bins over the weekend.
Across Round 8, a total of 18 players were sent to the sin bin, with the majority of due to contact to the head, prompting Johns and Phil Gould to slam the crackdown.
“The breakdown of this sending players to the bin is absolutely farcical,” Johns said in a blistering rant on the Sunday Footy Show.
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An inconsistency in rulings around high shots is frustrating fans — Isaah Yeo escaped punishment for a high shot on Tom Trbojevic and Sitili Tupouniua was spared from the sin bin despite clearly raising his knee at Brendan Piakura’s head.
The Bunker’s intervention in sin bin decisions has raised the ire of fans and commentators, prompting NRL CEO Andrew Abdo to admit league officials “need to be better”.
“Well, I think it’s a collective responsibility in the game, right?” Abdo told Code Sports.
“It’s an incredibly hard job because you’re looking at a very technical game played at speed. The adjudication in a sport such as ours is never going to be an exact science.
“There’s always going to be areas of judgement. I think we also need to accept that - we need to do better and we will. Hopefully we’ll see that playing out in the next couple of rounds.
“We also don’t want to see the incredible increase in high tackles that we’re seeing at the moment.
“As a game, we’re not going to take a backward step on player safety and protecting players. Equally, we also want a game that flows and I get the frustration around the stop-start nature of too much intervention, particularly the use of technology.
“So we’re going to think about that and adjust accordingly.”
Abdo said he didn’t expect a repeat of Magic Round in 2021, which was marred by a shocking crackdown that resulted in players being sent from the field for minor contact with the head.
“Hopefully we get that balance right,” Abdo said.
“It’s not an exact science, but we’re certainly going to keep looking at ways in which we can get the consistency that’s required, that howlers are not missed and the obvious ones are not missed.
“There’s always going to be those 50-50 calls and those are the ones that will be debated. That’s okay. As long as we aren’t missing the obvious ones or we are not overreacting.
“There’s been no policy change, but obviously the implementation of the policy is where the issue is and the bunker intervening. It’s meant for serious acts of foul play and I think that there have been instances where it hasn’t met that threshold.
“So we want to obviously reinforce that threshold with the referees, particularly the bunker, because it does have an impact on the game when you pull it back and no one likes that, right?”
Andrew Johns’ commentary boycott revealed
Johns led a chorus of rugby league legends who condemned the sin bin crackdown over the weekend, and it’s now emerged a sin bin prompted the NRL Immortal to put down his microphone during commentary on Sunday.
According to The Australian, Johns went silent in Nine’s commentary of the Tigers’ golden point win over Cronulla at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday, refusing to call the final 23 minutes of the thriller.
Johns was left speechless when Tigers prop Fonua Pole was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Cronulla’s Tom Hazelton in the 64th minute.
Referee Grant Atkins stopped play as the Bunker checked contact from a tackle earlier in the set, and sent Pole to the sin bin despite replays showing there was minimal force in the tackle.
“Don’t tell me that’s it?” a stunned Johns said in commentary as he watched a replay of the incident.
“No, no, no, no … I can’t … That’s a joke.”
Brad Fittler tried to shift attention away from the sin bin, saying: “Let’s go, move on.”
Fox League commentator Andrew Voss said: “Pole’s gone to the bin, another one where the attacker didn’t appear to flinch.
“The Bunker must not see much live in the game anymore. How do they stay on top of it? If they’re reviewing a tackle from four (tackles) ago, who watches the next play after that?
“We need an awful recalibration after this weekend,” Michael Ennis said after the Pole sin bin.
The Sharks scored minutes after Pole was sent from the field through Billy Burns and Nicho Hynes’ conversion made it 18-18 and the game went to golden point.
Johns was silent for the remainder of regulation time and only offered one more line of commentary for the game as the contest headed to golden point.
“Let’s hope there’s no head shots,” Johns said.
Adam Doueihi kicked a penalty goal in the 88th minute to give the Tigers a thrilling 20-18 win at Leichhardt.
Kodi Nikorima, Briton Nikora and Fonua Pole all escaped suspension despite being sent to the sin bin on Sunday.
“It’s gone beyond a joke,” Johns earlier on Sunday in his brutal critique of the sin bin crackdown.
“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.”
Johns: ‘Not the game I feel in love with’
“I played the game and I work in the game but I’m still a fan. I sat at home on Saturday night watching this farce as I called it,” Johns said on Nine’s 100% Footy on Monday night.
“It’s not the game I fell in love with and (am) still in love with. It was a foreign game the last two weeks. It didn’t resemble rugby league, so I thought I had to say what I thought, and I’m glad there’s some reaction.”
On Monday, Abdo clarified that the Bunker would only be instructed to intervene for “really serious or significant foul play”.
“I think that bar has been too low and you’ll see that adjusted going forwards.”
Johns quizzed Abdo: “So Andrew, you’re saying this is a line in the sand, the overreach of the Bunker will stop from now on in general play.”
Abdo replied: “The Bunker is not meant to intervene unless it’s serious of significant matters of foul play. That is going to be reinforced in the communication going forward.
“We don’t to see a couple of tackles later, play pulled back for something we don’t believe is a sin bin.”
Player safety is at the heart of everything the NRL is trying to achieve with this tougher stance, but fans want to see some common sense shown with games seriously impacted by bunker intervention for innocuous incidents that went unnoticed in previous sets.
Sin bins this year have increased by a staggering 141 per cent from 22 to 53 in eight rounds while players placed on report have risen 73 per cent from 83 to 144 highlighting just how far the NRL has gone overboard.
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