‘They are dangerous’: NRL split, confused about hip drop sin bin

The NRL’s most contentious tackle has reared its ugly head once again with the competition divided over a sin bin which split fans and commentators alike.

This tackle sparked a furore. Photo: Fox Sports

The NRL has once again been divided after Canterbury Bulldogs rookie Jacob Preston was sin binned for a hip drop tackle on South Sydney’s Izaac Thompson.

While the NRL appears united in wiping the tackle out of the game, the definition of a hip drop has even left players confused.

Watch every game of every round of the 2023 NRL Telstra Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

It was with 18 minutes left that Thompson came out of the Preston tackle clutching his left ankle.

The play continued but ended with a knock on, leaving enough time for a review from the Bunker.

On replay it appeared as though Thompson, who nearly broke free from a two-man tackle, was dragging Preston along and unfortunately got his ankle caught under the young back rower, but the Bunker ordered him to the sin bin, labelling it a hip drop tackle.

The hip drop has been an ugly tackle to come into the game and is generally when a player intentionally falls on the lower leg to take a player to ground.

Preston was sin binned and Cooper Cronk said: “I can’t argue with that”.

This tackle sparked a furore. Photo: Fox Sports

10 in the bin for Preston. Photo: Fox Sports

While Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo wouldn’t be drawn on whether he thought the tackle warranted a sin bin, Souths coach Jason Demetriou blasted the act and called for the NRL to get rid of the tackle.

“I think there were a few hip-drops, yeah. I think there were at least four of them in the game,” Demetriou said.

“We keep saying it’s not a problem in the game. But you know, Izaac Thompson, Junior (Tatola).

“If that (Preston) tackle happens on the training field, I can guarantee you teammates aren’t happy about it. Your own teammates are filthy if you do that.

“I don’t know why if we’re not doing it at training we’re bringing it on the field.”

He added that while it could be an accident if players lose their legs in order to bring a player to ground, it was “a lazy way” to tackle.

He also called for all clubs to stamp it out.

“I think the game’s doing a great job trying to do what they can. It’s up to the clubs to show some onus on it,” he said.

“It’s going to affect your team somewhere. You’re going to lose a high-quality player to a hip-drop, which is a tackle that can be avoided in my opinion.

“We don’t practice it. There’s no way that would happen at training. I can’t stress that point enough: it does not happen at training.

“Coaches and teammates would not let that happen. So I don’t know why we’re accepting it on the field.”

Jason Demetriou hit out at the hip drop in every form. Photo: Fox Sports

But not everyone agreed.

Roosters five-eighth Luke Keary was asked if he knew what was and wasn’t a hip drop tackle, replying: “No.”

“There’s the ones with the two men up top and slide down the back of the legs, but these one-on-ones, it’s confusing,” he continued.

“That doesn’t look like a hip drop to me.”

Keary admitted that as a smaller player, he would do several in a game.

“The weight thing’s a big thing, I’ll do five or six in a game because 80kg doesn’t affect the big back rowers,” he said. “They are dangerous.

“But the one-on-one, I don’t think that was one.”

Greg Alexander added: “It wasn’t your garden variety hip drop tackle.”

“An intentional hip drop tackle is a bad tackle, look at Jackson Hastings last year. But there’s those borderline ones where a player is dragged through force from the attacker where he goes past and all of a sudden they’re swung around behind the player.

“But if we want to stamp it out, you can’t leverage your weight like that on a players leg at all.”

With Matt Cleary, NCA Newswire

Originally published as ‘They are dangerous’: NRL split, confused about hip drop sin bin