‘We’re not going to ease off’: NRL accepts calls have been “frustrating” for fans, but warns tough stance won’t change for Magic Round

The NRL’s head of football has warned players and fans that officials won’t back down from the league’s strict head high contact policy during Magic Round.

But Graham Annesley did concede the bunker should only be getting involved for more serious incidents after outrage over several incidents during last round.

High contact has been debated everywhere you look over the past few days after 18 players were sent to the sin bin in round eight, with some players fined or suspended, while others weren’t even charged.

Most fans can live with penalties or players being put on report after the fact for high contact, but there’s been a growing frustration around the bunker getting involved a set later to stop play and ask the referee to sin bin a player for contact that didn’t seem overly forceful.

“From our perspective, there hasn’t been a crackdown,” Annesley told NewsWire, reminding fans of four missed sin bins in round four that led to the NRL sending out a memo to clubs about high contact.

“About a month ago, there were a number of fairly obvious sin bins that didn’t happen. We had to remind referees and clubs of what the expected standard was for tackles of that type under existing policy that’s been in place for the past three years.

“There was no new policy, there was no new directive. It was just that there were a number of misses that should have been acted upon, and we didn’t want it to be seen that it was the new standard.

“We’ve reviewed all of the high tackles from the weekend, and it’s fair to say that most of them should have been sent to the sin bin, but maybe a couple shouldn’t have been. Then there were a couple that maybe should have been that weren’t.

“It was an unusual weekend with the high number of incidents that the match officials had to deal with, but I’m not walking away from the fact that we have to be better at getting the right outcome for these incidents when they take place.”

While most fans would agree that shoulder charges to the head deserve harsh penalties, it’s equally hard to accept when a player is sent to the sin bin for minimal contact that happened two minutes earlier.

Annesley explained that on-field officials may miss foul play and that there’s always someone in the bunker going back to review potential high contact.

“We understand that it’s frustrating for fans and players to see the game stopped for a prior incident, and then a player gets sent to the sin bin,” he said.

“These incidents where the bunker intervenes for something that happened a number of tackles previously, we understand that it’s disruptive to the flow of the game and it’s frustrating. We get that.

“But by the same token, we have to make sure that we are always protecting players wherever possible.

“When we go back to a previous play, we have to make sure that we’re only doing it for the most serious of incidents.

“If there’s no question that a player should not remain on the field after a tackle that’s been missed by the match officials, then that player deserves to go to the sin bin.

“But if we get any marginal incidents where the player could be placed on report for the incident rather than stopping the game, then we need to be better at that.”

Annesley had a simple message to players that referees have nothing to rule on if they don’t hit rivals in the head, with the NRL concerned about a sharp rise in foul play this year.

“We’re the first to acknowledge that there have been some inconsistencies with how some of these matters have been dealt with,” he said.

“The large majority have been justifiable because we’ve actually seen a pretty significant increase in high tackles this year.

“We’ve seen a 90 per cent increase in the number of high tackles being reviewed by the match review committee, we’ve seen a 95 per cent increase in the number of charges for head high tackles and a 71 per cent increase for high tackles.

“It is a concern for us that we’re seeing an increase in this type of tackle, and a disturbing number of shoulder to the head types of tackles which can be quite serious.

“We’re not backing away from our existing and past policy of contact with the head and neck.

“However, we do need to ensure that we have all our match officials on the same page.”

It’s why the NRL won’t be altering its stance for Magic Round, with fans worried that we could see a repeat of the mass sin bins and send offs from four years ago.

“Our position on contact with the head and neck hasn’t changed. It hasn’t changed this year, and it hasn’t changed for the past three years.” Annesley warned.

“I don’t know why, but we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of high tackles this year.

“We’re not going to ease off on players going to the sin bin when they deserve to go to the sin bin because it’s our responsibility to try to make sure that it’s a deterrent for players to not make contact with the head and neck.”