Sharks question high tackle consistency after controversial sin bin sparks Warriors comeback

Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon fears we’re seeing a crackdown on the eve of the finals after one of his best players was sent to the sin bin.

Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon is worried about a pre-finals crackdown on high tackles after one of his start players was sent to the sin bin. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon is worried about a pre-finals crackdown on high shots after Kayal Iro was controversially sent to the sin bin for a tackle that didn’t look too bad and opened the door for the Warriors to score two quick tries as the retiring Shaun Johnson lifted his side to a famous win.

The Sharks led 22-4 at half-time but fell behind in the second half after the visitors raced in two tries in three minutes while Iro was in the sin bin for a high shot on Dallin Watene-Zelezniak who stayed down but didn’t come off for an HIA.

The Warriors winger scored three second-half tries including one in the final minute, but a lot of the focus was on what happened midway through the half when referee Chris Butler sent Iro from the field for what he said was a string of repeated acts of foul play.

The hosts did concede four penalties in 13 minutes for either high or late tackles, with Iro paying the price for a shot that ordinarily wouldn’t have warranted a stint in the sin bin.

Fitzgibbon was quick to stress that it wasn’t the reason they lost, but there’s a concern heading into the finals when it comes to consistency around high contact.

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“I’d like to tell you what I really think about it (but I won’t),” he said.

“We’ve got to protect the players because we don’t want to see high shots. I get it, we want it out of the game.

“But to wait until a couple of weeks before the semis to start doing a crackdown, that period was a disaster. It was stop-start, stop-start, stop-start, and then gamesmanship starts to come into it.

“How bad are they? Are they hurt? Will they stay down? We all know what we’re doing there, but we wait until this part of the season to start really cracking down on it.

“We’re stopping and starting game after game after game. We want to see good footy in the semis. This is the time of the year we should be cheering and letting the game flow.

“I’m all for the protection of players, but there’s a balance with how bad they are and the significance.

“We won’t be using that as an excuse because they were terrific… but what do we want to say because it’s getting hard.

“I know the attacker can’t disappear, but neither can the defender sometimes.

“It’s happening every game and it’s going to get tricky. We want to see the game flow and we want to protect the players as well, so where the balance is isn’t my job to do. But we need to look at our tackling as well.”

The Warriors scored two tries while Kayal Iro was in the sin bin. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Sharks skipper Cameron McInnes was equally miffed by the decision and the explanation he received from the referee.

“The dialogue was that there had been a few high shots beforehand so something had to be done about it,” he said.

“It’s frustrating because you probably struggle to see the consistency and every tackle is different.

“I thought as much as he got hit in the head, there was a bit of falling of body position into it.

“As a rugby league player, you’re taught to play hard and things happen. That gamesmanship is tough to take, but at the same time it’s not an excuse for us.

“It’d be good to have some consistency and understanding that it’s a contact sport and things can happen when levels change.”