Monday Bunker: ‘There needs to be a line drawn in the sand‘

The NRL match review committee has come under fire after Jake Trbojevic escaped suspension for a dangerous throw tackle that “should have got a suspension”.

The NRL match review committee has come under fire after Jake Trbojevic escaped suspension for a dangerous throw tackle that “should have got a suspension”.

On a weekend of NRL drama on and off the field, Trbojevic’s tackle on Storm fullback Jahrome Hughes was a huge talking point.

Referencing the tragic circumstances of what happened to former Newcastle forward Alex McKinnon, the Monday Bunker panel said the NRL had to come down harder.

“There needs to be a line in the sand drawn on these types of tackles,” Monday Bunker host Tim Gilbert said.

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“Because there was a line in the sand drawn back then that it doesn’t really matter if you’re the nicest bloke in the world — if you get someone in that position, you have got to be punished.

“Once it’s happened you can’t come back from there.”

The Daily Telegraph’s Paul Crawley agreed.

“The whole rule was brought in the wake of what happened with Alex, he broke his neck,” he said.

“Jake Trbojevic is a good guy but he shouldn’t have got off that for tackle, he should have got a suspension.

“It’s only good fortune that Jahrome Hughes didn’t land on his head, and it was bad luck that Alex did. “That’s why you can’t have these tackles in the game.”

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