NRL vow to crack down on hideous crusher tackles

The NRL has seen enough of the vicious crusher tackle that’s plagued the game in recent weeks, vowing to bring an end to it before a player is left with serious injuries.

The NRL will attempt to completely rid crusher tackles from the game.

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The NRL has vowed to crack down on the sickening trend of crusher tackles with pumped up suspensions set to be introduced as soon as this week.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg and Head of Football Graham Annesley held talks this morning and the issue will now come to a head at a meeting of the NRL’s Competition Committee on Tuesday.

It follows a spate of dangerous crusher tackles over the weekend that led rugby league legend Greg Alexander to raise fears that someone would end up with a broken neck.

The NRL will attempt to completely rid crusher tackles from the game.

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Cronulla’s Andrew Fifita and Newcastle’s Mitch Barnett were charged for ugly incidents over the weekend while Canberra’s John Bateman astonishingly escaped punishment.

The fact that no one was sent off or even sin binned only raised more concern.

Former leading referee Greg McCallum told The Daily Telegraph on Monday that he would have sent Barnett straight off for his crusher on Melbourne fullback Jahrome Hughes.

Barnett now faces a three-to-five match ban while Fifita faces a two-to-three match suspension.

Greg Alexander spoke of his disgust of the tackle over the weekend. Picture: Dan Himbrechts

Alexander suggested a 10-match ban for intentional crusher tackles would be the best way to eliminate the dangerous trend.

Asked if he believed Barnett’s tackle warranted a send-off, McCallum didn’t hesitate: “In my era you sent players off so that would have been one where a player would have been sent off.

“These days there just seems to be a reluctance to do it (send a player off).

“Apart from a spear tackle or a dangerous throw, these crusher tackles are the worst thing that can happen.

“But there just seems to be this attitude amongst some players at the moment that you can do what you like.”

Newcastle's Mitchell Barnett is in big trouble for this tackle on Jahrome Hughes.

But Annesley revealed that he spoke with Greenberg on Monday morning about the urgent need for tougher penalties.

While Annesley could not speak specifically about Barnett or Fifita’s case, he explained: “We are concerned about a couple of things in the game at the moment. One being the incidents of crusher tackles, the other one being late hits on playmakers and kickers for that matter.

Canberra's John Bateman escaped charge for this tackle on Wade Graham.

“I am not talking about any particular (incident), there has been a string of them.

“By coincidence tomorrow we have a scheduled meeting of the Competition Committee and we are going to have a discussion about how we should deal with this.

“After that discussion we will make some decisions about recommendations to the Commission on what should be done to address these particularly concerning parts of what we are seeing recently.”

Annesley could not pre-empt what the Competition Committee would determine but agreed “that the deterrent has to be sufficient that players change their techniques”.

The Competition Committee includes some of the game’s most experienced experts such as Mal Meninga, Darren Lockyer, Paul Green, Ivan Cleary and John Lang.

Annesley added: “We will determine after we have that discussion which is the right lever to pull to try and ensure that the disincentive is strong enough to prevent these things from happening.”

Originally published as NRL vow to crack down on hideous crusher tackles