Andrew Johns takes aim at NRL ‘farce’ as coaches say same thing about rule ‘ruining’ rugby league

Andrew Johns has led the calls for change as fans continue to fall out of love with rugby league amid the code’s latest crackdown.

Andrew Johns has laid into the NRL amid a string of “farcical” sin bins in round eight.

The NRL stated last month that it was cracking down on high contact after several incidents in the opening two weeks went relatively unpunished.

Announcing the crackdown, CEO Andrew Abdo said players would be binned for any direct and forceful contact with the head that didn’t have any mitigating factors.

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However, after weeks of fan outrage due to the crackdown, the consensus is the NRL has gone too far, with several players given 10 in the bin for relatively minor offences.

Across the first six games of footy this week, there have been an incredible 12 sin bins.

This week it started on Thursday night as the Bulldogs had several players given their marching orders before things reached boiling point on Saturday.

In the first game of the weekend, the Titans had Jaimin Joliffe and Brock Gray put in the bin for minor head contact in their loss to the Cowboys.

In Saturday night’s clash between Manly and Penrith, Scott Sorensen and Siosiua Taukeiaho were both given 10 for minor indiscretions.

Sorenson’s shot on Nathan Brown didn’t even require the Manly forward to go off for a head injury assessment, while Taukieaho was sanctioned for an offence completely missed before Belinda Sharpe stopped play almost a minute later to put him in the bin for what was an innocuous incident.

And with fans starting to turn their back on the sport feeling the latest crackdown has sucked the enjoyment out of the game, Johns unleashed on the NRL.

The Immortal called this weekend’s officiating “farcical”, “embarrassing” and “beyond a joke”.

“They want players to defend low, but if Scott Sorensen goes low on Nathan Brown he’s gonna knock himself out as cold as a spud,” Johns said on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.

Andrew Johns is fed up with the amount of sin binnings. Image: Getty

“If he wraps his arms, he will dislocate his shoulder – he has to brace and get himself into space. I have no idea what the NRL want this tackle to be and they have to come out tomorrow and explain what tackle they want in this situation.

“ … Next week, we are going to Magic Round. We are a working-class game, our fans are working-class people, they save up all year to go to Magic Round and for them to go out there and make a farce of this game, will be disgraceful if it happens this week.

“I am so frustrated by it and I reckon the players would be frustrated by it.

“Who owns the game? The fans and without the fans watching on TV, there are no broadcast rights and without fans going to the game, there is no money. I’d imagine they are more frustrated than I am.”

And if X is anything to go by fans have well and truly had enough, with many stating they have fallen out of love with the sport due to sin bins “ruining the NRL”.

Siosiua Taukeiaho was sin binned for a high shot a minute later on Saturday. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

“Is anyone else falling out of love with rugby league? Such a different sport to when I started watching it in the 1970s and the laws/refereeing now is far too overcautious,” one fan wrote on X.

“NRL is in a great period, rugby league is flying. The one thing that’s holding it back. The officials. Hate to have a go at them but it’s just not good enough at the moment,” another added.

While a third said: “I honestly don’t think I’ve seen a softer sin bin in the history of rugby league. How on God’s green earth is that not play on? A sin bin? It’s becoming an absolute farce and ruining our game.”

And even the coaches are at a loss for words.

Both Ivan Cleary and Anthony Seibold said Saturday’s match was over-refereed.

When Cleary was asked whether the league had overcorrected since the crackdown, he said: “I think that’s probably a fair comment.”

While Seibold said it has been a problem for several weeks and changes need to be made.

“I feel like it potentially just needs to be looked at because there are some tackles that look very similar and some are getting sin-binned, and some aren’t getting sin-binned,” Seibold said.

Originally published as Andrew Johns takes aim at NRL ‘farce’ as coaches say same thing about rule ‘ruining’ rugby league