Why Andrew Johns dropped microphone in protest at ‘absolute farce’ sin-bin ruling

The NRL has every right to fear litigation from past players about concussion, but the wild inconsistency from match to match is trashing the game. The Eighth Immortal has had enough.

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Channel 9 expert Andrew Johns refused to call the final 23 minutes of the golden-point thriller between Wests Tigers and Cronulla in protest at the NRL’s shambolic head-high crackdown.

After unloading on match officials on The Sunday Footy Show earlier in the day, the Eighth Immortal was literally rendered speechless when Tigers prop Fonua Pole was dispatched for a high tackle on the Sharks’ Tom Hazelton in the 64th minute.

Referee Grant Atkins halted play with the Sharks on the attack as the Bunker checked contact from a tackle earlier in the set.

Wests Tigers captain Api Koroisau queries referee Grant Atkins as prop Fonua Pole is sin-binned for a questionable head-high tackle on the Sharks’ Tom Hazelton. Picture: NRL Photos

Replays showed there had been minimal force, but Pole was sent anyway, adding to a round of frustration for players, coaches and fans over the inconsistent and overuse of the sin bin.

“Don’t tell me that’s it?” a stunned Johns said in commentary as he watched a replay. “No, no, no, no … I can’t … That’s a joke.”

Co-caller Brad Fittler quickly shifted the focus away from the sin bin. “Let’s go,” he said. “Move on.”

Fittler has been contracted to the NRL since late 2023 as a pathways and participation consultant, although he has long been an advocate for stamping out high contact.

The Sharks scored minutes after Pole was sent from the field. Nicho Hynes’ conversion levelled the scores before the Tigers snatched victory in the eighth minute of extra time, via a 30m penalty goal from centre Adam Doueihi.

After the try was scored, Nine sideline eye – the Sharks’ 2016 premiership-winning captain Paul Gallen – weighed in.

“We all know who I’m backing,” he said. “But that player that was sent … I don’t think that was worth 10 minutes in the sin bin.”

“You don’t?” Johns said.

Johns remained silent for the rest of normal time, until play-by-play caller Mat Thompson tried to engage him at the start of golden point.

“Let’s hope there’s no head shots,” Johns grumbled.

They were his final remarks for the broadcast. He did not return calls on Monday, but Nine sources confirmed he put down the microphone in exasperation at the way the game was being adjudicated.

Earlier that day, Johns had launched into the NRL for the messy interpretation of what constitutes a sin bin, branding the officiating as an “absolute farce”.

A whopping 18 players were sin-binned over the course of the round. While some were justified, and others arguable, those such as the Pole send-off were laughable.

In the same match, Sharks lock Cameron McInnes could only laugh when he was penalised for a high shot after Tigers winger Brent Naden’s head collided with his chest.

The madness of Magic Round 2021, when a ruling on ruck infringements and head-high tackles by ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys just hours before kick-off resulted in a spate of sin bins that were harsh at best. Here, Manly’s Lachlan Croker is sent for 10 minutes against the Broncos.

Johns fears a repeat this weekend of the comical scenes at Magic Round in 2021, when ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys issued a head-high crackdown just hours before the opening match.

“We are a working-class game,” Johns said. “Our fans are working-class people. They save up all year to go to Magic Round, and for them to go out there and make a farce of this game, it will be disgraceful if it happens this week. I am so frustrated by it and I reckon the players would be frustrated by it.”

Relief could be on the way.

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo admitted to The Australian on Monday the Bunker had overstepped the mark at the weekend – but said players are still mostly to blame for being sin-binned.

“The threshold for them intervening was too low this weekend,” he said. “[Bunker officials] were involved far too often than they should have been … There has been no change in policy, but there has been an increase in sin bins because there has been a significant increase in head-high tackles.”

The NRL has every right to fear litigation from past players about concussion, but the wild inconsistency from match to match is trashing the game.

On Thursday night, Bulldogs five-eighth Matt Burton was penalised for an ugly high shot on Broncos hooker Billy Walters but not sin-binned.

In the same match, back-rower Sitili Tupouniua stayed on the field despite an ugly knee-raise while carrying the ball, and teammate Josh Curran should have been sent off for his dreadful high shot on Payne Haas.

The Roosters’ Sandon Smith is sin-binned on Anzac Day against the Dragons for an indiscretion on an earlier play. Picture: NRL Photos

A day later, Roosters five-eighth Sandon Smith was sin-binned after the Bunker discovered an earlier play in which he had caught falling Dragons half-back Lachlan Ilias on the nose.

Significantly, players and coaches are sticking up for rival players. On Friday night, Storm five-eighth Cameron Munster leapt to the defence of Souths full-back Latrell Mitchell, who was sin-binned for a tackle on Storm speedster Sua Fa’alogo.

“I know we’re trying to protect a lot of players with obviously the head knocks,” Munster said. “It’s slippery out there. It’s wet, force-on-force, a lot of speed. Sua’s very quick, Latrell’s very big and I don’t know where you want Latrell to go there.

Melbourne’s Sua Fa’alogo is dropped by Souths’ Latrell Mitchell, resulting in a sin bin. Picture: NRL Photos

“Sua’s obviously trying to engage him to be able to pass and he slipped over, so I feel like sometimes it’s hard to get yourself out of those positions when you’re fully in and into the contact.”

Storm coach Craig Bellamy doubled down on SEN on Saturday morning.

“Sometimes the rules don’t get changed, but the interpretations do,” he said. “One incident is looked at differently to the other. It gets frustrating when a player is set to make a tackle and the guy with the ball just drops just before he gets to him. He can’t pull out. We’re sending players to the bin and suspending them when they’re complete accidents.”

Latrell Mitchell is sent to the sin bin after the Sua Fa’alogo incident, something the Storm utility playmaker’s teammate Cameron Munster didn’t agree with.

The margin of error has never been so narrow. The speed of the game has been cranked up significantly since the introduction of the six-to-go rule in 2020. The players have never been stronger, faster and fitter.

Immortal Wally Lewis, who in 2023 was diagnosed with likely chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), wants coaches to focus on changing tackle techniques so players don’t tackle so high in order to wrap up the ball and hold the ball carrier so the defensive line can set itself.

Scott Sorenson’s sin bin against Manly’s Nathan Brown was a head-scratcher, says Andrew Johns. Picture: Getty Images

But not all rugby league tackles are the same. On Sunday, Johns pointed to the sin-binning of Penrith back-rower Scott Sorensen for his tackle on Manly’s Nathan Brown.

“They want players to defend low, but if Scott Sorensen goes low on Nathan Brown he’s gonna knock himself out as cold as a spud,” Johns said. “If he wraps his arms, he will dislocate his shoulder – he has to brace and get himself into space.

“I have no idea what the NRL want this tackle to be and they have to come out tomorrow and explain what tackle they want in this situation.”