NRL tackle crackdown creating confusion, says Dragons coach, as clubs brace for more sin bins

St George coach Anthony Griffin claims there is mass confusion with the NRL’s crackdown on foul play, arguing that the boundaries have already changed.

Griffin was left miffed after his team’s 13-12 loss to Cronulla on Friday night, with eight players put on report and three sin-bins across both teams.

Frustrating the Dragons coach most was that Sharks winger Mawene Hiroti was not sent off for clocking Cody Ramsey high, and was instead only sin-binned.

Hiroti had chased Ramsey down as he made a break, with the St George Illawarra fullback failing his subsequent HIA and forcing a reshuffle.

“It’s confusing. If the tackle on Ramsey had happened in Brisbane last weekend, someone would have got sent off,” Griffin claimed.

“[Ramsey] couldn’t protect himself when he was running like that. The kid had a whole body to tackle at, he could have tackled him around the legs or the waist.

“If ever they looked at a deliberate high shot and it put him out of the game, that was one of them. It’s confusion.

“What’s a 10-minutes, what’s a sending off, what’s a penalty? Every time you pull up for a scrum, someone is getting put on report.”

The Dragons were one of three clubs to have a player sent off in Magic Round, with Tyrrel Fuimaono marched for knocking out Ryan Papenhuyzen with a high shot.

With four players banned from that match, the Dragons had Ramsey and Max Feagai suffer concussions from hits while Jaiyden Hunt was also hurt in friendly fire.

Adding more pain to the night for Griffin was Paul Vaughan, who found himself sin-binned for a hit to Will Chambers’ head.

Griffin insisted his former NSW State of Origin representative should not have been sat out for an accident, after Andrew McCullough cut Chambers in half and had him falling in the tackle.

“They’re accidents. That’s an accident when the ball player gets that low and you have a big man coming in from the side,” Griffin said.

“We’ve got to find a way to get that out of the game. I’m all for it, I don’t want anyone getting hurt from any team.

“For him to go to the bin for that accident and the other guy [Hiroti] to stay on the field for the rest of the game for that one. I’m confused.

“It’s going to take a while to fix up. There’s confusion there. There’s a different interpretation to what there was last weekend.”

Players need more time to adjust

Meanwhile, Cronulla caretaker coach Josh Hannay warned that players need more time to adjust their tackling amid “a perfect recipe for disaster”.

Josh Dugan and Mawene Hiroti were both sin-binned over high shots in the Sharks’ victory, while Briton Nikora also ended up on report for another high tackle.

In addition, Jayden Brailey and Teig Wilton were referred to the match review committee for crusher tackles, which carry a one-game ban for even the lowest-level charge.

Three players — including the Warriors’ Jazz Tevaga — were also put on report in the game between the Auckland-based club and Wests Tigers.

It came as Hannay warned the game’s crackdown would not come easy, with some reward needed for legs tackles.

“I am not against the crackdown at all. But we also need to understand that players need to be recalibrated in how they tackle,” Hannay said.

“They have been taught for year on year and tackling over the football and trying to stop a player that way.

“And we’re trying to tell players overnight if you tackle high we’re going to punish you harder than we’ve ever punished in the history of the game.

“I agree with the rule but there is going to be some growing pains.”

Hannay also stressed that any next move had to be deeply thought about, given a move to legs tackles without reward would only speed the game up more and create fatigue.

“Lower tackles are going to create an even faster game,” Hannay said.

“We need to be careful about this obsession with the speed of the game. Every action has a reaction.

“And we need to make sure this game doesn’t become a glorified game of touch football.”

AAP/ABC