Leaked email puts all clubs on notice as sin bin crackdown enforced
The NRL have put all 17 clubs on notice on Monday, enforcing a major crackdown in the wake of an ugly weekend of action.
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The NRL put all 17 clubs on notice on Monday, enforcing a sin bin crackdown in the wake of an ugly weekend of footy.
A leaked email, obtained by Code Sports, from the NRL’s head of football Graham Annesley revealed match officials had failed to correctly use the sin bin to sanction players over contact with the head.
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The email noted that moving forward players will be binned if they make contact with the head of an opponent.
The call to action from the NRL comes after multiple players avoided being sent to the bin before they were slapped down by the match review committee.
Jarome Luai (Tigers), Jordan Riki (Broncos), Tom Gilbert (Dolphins) and Reed Mahoney (Bulldogs) all stayed on the field before later accepting either fines or suspensions.
The report also states at least two referees are said to be facing the axe following their failure to act against foul play.
“The NRL have been sprung into action after a wild weekend, too much foul play in their opinion,” Rothfield said on NRL 360.
“Graham Annesley has emailed all 17 clubs late this afternoon and said from here on, high tackles will be an instant sin bin and they have found four instances from the weekend, Riki, Luai, Mahoney and Gilbert.
“They’ve said the referees and the Bunker got them all wrong.”
NRL legend Gorden Tallis was on board with the league’s hard stance directive to protect the ball carrier.
“If you’re running the ball, you should have no fear that your head is ever going to get hit, so I like the rule,” he said.
As replays of the incidents from the weekend rolled, journalist Brent Read disagreed with them all apart from Reed Mahoney’s shot on Daniel Atkinson.
“Just watching that Reed Mahoney one, there’s not too much in that to be honest. I don’t even know if he hit him in the head, the other three were all head contact,” Read said.
His comments didn’t sit well with Rothfield who quickly snapped back in a fiery exchange.
“Are you serious? The left forearm attacks the head, if you think that’s all right, you have no idea,” Rothfield responded.
“I think it’s a cheap shot, fine, but I don’t think it’s as severe as the other three and you know who agrees with me, the match review committee, because they only gave him a grade one for that and all the others got grade two,” Read said.
Rothfield shot back: “The match review committee, they stuffed that up. I can tell you top officials at the NRL were absolutely shocked that Reed Mahoney is not sitting out for at least one week for that cheap shot.”
Originally published as Leaked email puts all clubs on notice as sin bin crackdown enforced
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