Wayne Bennett’s backing steels Peter V’landys to continue NRL crackdown

Amid a tidal wave of backlash from coaches and fans, Peter V’landys won’t be ‘taking a backward step’ on the controversial foul play crackdown - and he has a powerful voice on his side.

Jordan Riki is facing 2 to 3 weeks out while teammate Tyson Gamble can escape with a fine.

The seemingly lone — yet hugely influential — voice of supercoach Wayne Bennett has steeled Peter V’landys’ resistance against backflipping on the NRL’s controversial crackdown on foul play.

Amid a tidal wave of backlash from fans and commentators, the ARL Commission chairman has vowed to stand firm and govern with an iron fist by persisting with the decision to send players from the field for contact to the head.

The shine of the NRL’s Magic Round in Brisbane has been blinded by the glare of the new rule interpretations that was highlighted by Raiders forward Josh Papalii becoming the first player to be sent from the field under the strict edict.

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Josh Papalii was sent off for a high shot. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

Papalii received his marching orders in the 61st minute of the Raiders’ two-point win over the Bulldogs on Saturday after producing a brutal shoulder charge on Canterbury’s Tui Katoa.

Katoa was concussed from the hit and failed to return to the match.

The Raiders also had star half Jack Wighton in the sin bin when Papalii was sent off, reducing the “Green Machine” to 11 men.

Wighton is likely to be charged by the NRL match review committee for a cannonball tackle.

The number of players sent to the sin-bin for foul play stands at 12 after the first five games of round 10.

Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett joined the chorus of concerned opinions by declaring he feared the game would turn into a refined version of touch football.

“I played, I knew I was going to get hit in the head or neck occasionally, I’m fine with that,” Barrett said.

“There’s no thuggery in the game anymore, it’s not like the 1980s. There are no swinging arms and elbows. Occasionally there will be contact there, nobody goes out to do it. It’ll turn into a game of Oztag, if that’s what they want and that’s the concern for us.

“You keep changing the rules, who knows where it’ll end up.”

However, Roosters premiership winning coach Trent Robinson called for fans and commentators to “calm down”.

“We need to get better at (not) hitting players in the head,” Robinson said.

“It’s been a bit over the top. But it will recalibrate after this weekend because there has been such an uproar about it. We also need to recalibrate our height of our tackle.”

V’landys said a chance catch-up with Bennett in Brisbane on Saturday morning only reaffirmed he and the commission’s decision to protect players from head knocks and concussion.

“I’m not taking a backward step. It’s short-term pain for long-term gain,” V’landys said.

“It will kill the game if we don’t get tough on foul play and particularly contact with the head.

“And while this is a decision by the commission, I did speak to Wayne Bennett in Brisbane who he himself said, ‘stay strong — we need this to happen for the entire game.’

“And that’s the point, unless we do something now we’re going to be paying in the long run.

“At the end of the day, we’re just implementing the rules. They’re not new rules.

“You’ve never been allowed to hit someone in the head.

“It’s always been there — it’s just that we’ve always taken a light approach to it.

“Well not anymore. We’re going to eradicate foul play.

The NRL has come down hard on head-high contact. Picture: Scott Davis/NRL Photos

“I personally felt sick for Drew Hutchison (after suffering a punctured lung) — imagine the pain he was in for three or four days.

“As an administrator, we’ve got to eradicate that.’’

The directive for referees to sin-bin players for 10-minutes for either accidental or deliberate contact with the head or acts of foul play provoked an immediate response following Friday night’s litmus test of the rules.

The departure of eight players to the sin bin during the two Friday night matches led to calls for a five-minute sin-bin to be introduced.

V’landys said no changes to the current rules would be made this weekend.

“I’m open to looking at five-minute sin bins with the commission, but we have looked at in the past. And so at this stage it’s not on the agenda,’’ V’landys said.

“We’ll stick to 10 minutes.’’

Revealed: Proof more pain to come in NRL crackdown

The Broncos escaped a judiciary mauling following their Magic Round debacle but a leaked NRL email proves there will be more pain to come in the game’s high-contact crackdown.

Broncos quartet Matt Lodge, Tevita Pangai Jr, Tyson Gamble and Jordan Riki escaped suspensions after being reported for high-contact incidents in Brisbane’s 50-6 loss to Manly on Friday night.

Riki is a facing a two-three game ban for a separate crusher tackle involving Manly forward Haumole Olalkau’atu which did not relate to the high-contact edict.

The NRL match-review committee cleared Lodge of a high shot, while Pangai Jnr ($2150) and Gamble ($1150) were only hit with financial penalties, enabling the trio to face the Roosters in Round 11.

Jordan Riki is facing 2 to 3 weeks out while teammate Tyson Gamble can escape with a fine.

Gamble and Riki were placed on report twice and both sin-binned in the second half, leaving the Broncos with 11 men at one stage as the Sea Eagles ran riot in the 44-point mauling.

But the match-review committee’s decision to not sting the Broncos trio with suspensions is sure to intensify criticism of the ARL Commission’s crackdown on foul play, with many fans and commentators left outraged.

The crackdown has gone down like a lead balloon with fans who were left perplexed by some of the penalties and sin-bin decisions.

Match officials have come under fire but are only following instructions handed down from the NRL and commission.

An email to officials, obtained by The Sunday Mail, said the crackdown was to limit the negative impact on “brand, participation and player welfare”.

And the referees were urged to uphold the policy and back their judgment.

“Contact with the head/neck is not acceptable. This objective with this stronger approach will be to look to eliminate dangerous contact, as was the case with punching and dangerous throws,” it said.

“The onus is on the defender to avoid contact with the head/neck, regardless of any mitigating factors.

“We are all supported to err on the side of strength – if in doubt, DO NOT TAKE THE SOFT OPTION.

“No longer will we base our approach to ‘will it be charged’ – rule on fact and the outcome – never mind about what caused it.”

Regardless of the sin-bin and penalty drama, the Broncos were well off the pace against Manly and coach Kevin Walters said they had to adapt to the new rules.

“We were all aware of the crackdown, everyone was notified,” he said.

“The referees don’t tick the scoreboard over.

“We spoke about it through the week, everyone got a handout.

“They just got up a bit high and the rules have changed and you can’t do that.”

Broncos winger Corey Oates said he hoped the referees would give players time to adapt to the changes.

“I’ve got no idea what happened,” he said.

“A few of the reports were for head highs, there is a new rule on it, some could have been questionable but there is a new rule on it so it’s up to the NRL to look at.

“I felt there were some 50-50 decisions there that went against us. It’s the first week they brought the new rule out. You always hope there is some grey area there.”

Originally published as Wayne Bennett’s backing steels Peter V’landys to continue NRL crackdown