Trevor Gillmeister defends Maroons star Nate Myles over tackling technique

ONE of the greatest hitmen in rugby league has jumped to the defence of Nate Myles and his controversial tackling technique.

Trevor Gillmeister

ONE of the greatest hitmen in rugby league has jumped to the defence of Nate Myles and his controversial tackling technique that sparked the infamous Origin I fight with NSW captain Paul Gallen.

Queensland great Trevor "The Axe" Gillmeister said Myles was simply an old-school footballer who refused to engage in the ugly wrestling techniques that have swept through rugby league.

Gillmeister, who coaches Myles at the Titans and in Origin with the Maroons, said head contact was incidental and sometimes unavoidable when you're trying to hit with your shoulder.

"I don't know what all the whinging is about, to hit with your shoulder your head sometimes comes into contact. That is how I was taught to tackle all the time," Gillmeister said.

"Don't worry, you don't end up with a head like mine or Nate's without copping a few yourself.

"You get your head caught in there too sometimes and you come off second best. That is the fact of it. Nate is one of the blokes who has a good technique. He doesn't wrestle like a lot of blokes.

"A lot of them are used to the wrestling style at club level. He is an old-school defender, he hits with his shoulder."

Gillmeister said the comments from Gallen about Myles headbutting were just an excuse to deflect attention away from his own behaviour which has set a precedent for the rest of the Origin series.

Gallen's light punishment for punching Myles has upset Queensland and Gillmeister said it was the talk of the Maroons camp.

"What it's going to do now is if one of the Queenslanders does the same thing you won't, or shouldn't, be sin-binned or sent off," he told Triple M.

"We'll see what happens in the next (Origin match). We had dinner after the game and the boys aren't real happy. It will be interesting to see what happens ... in the second one."

Gillmeister, who played 22 matches for the Maroons, conceded different rules had always applied to Origin.

"As a young fella I remember (Maroons great) Greg Dowling grabbed me and said: 'You can get away with murder here'. It's just the way it is."