NRL CEO Andrew Abdo denies officials have been ordered to adjudicate high tackles and other foul play more harshly as the competition deals with a wave of criticism amid a frenzy of sin bins.
An incredible 18 players were sent for 10 minutes during round eight of the NRL season, many of them on the advice of the Bunker who had instructed the referee to bin them, often after the play had long moved on.
The sin bin blitz has left fans and commentators frustrated, with Immortal Andrew Johns letting rip in a fiery rant about the state of the game on the Sunday Footy Show.
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Now, Abdo has responded, and while he’s denied there’s been a crackdown, some interpretations appear to be relaxed for this weekend’s Magic Round in Brisbane.
“First of all, there’s been no crackdown, there’s been no policy change,” Abdo said on 2GB.
“A couple of weeks ago, we had a round where the refs missed a few high tackles that should have been sin-binned and we communicated to the clubs saying that’s not the standard, the standard is what it’s always been.
“What we’ve seen now is a slight overreaction the other way, which is unfortunate and I get the frustration around the Bunker intervening in play, that is certainly not something that any of us want to see and that’s meant to be for serious acts of foul play, or the howlers as you call it.
“There have probably been too many of those where that disrupts play and gets pulled back and that’s something we’ve got to work on.”
In defending the game’s officials, Abdo pointed to a surge in the number of high tackles and put some of the blame back on the players.
“We’ve had some terrific football but we’ve also seen a huge increase in the number of high tackles this season,” he said.
“Last year, to round eight, we had 200 high tackles – now we’ve got over 379.
“There has been an increase in high tackles, with that, there’s going to come an increase in penalties and sin bins, so we’re also calling on the clubs and the players to be more disciplined and to always think about player safety as part of how they prepare for the games.”
With the competition’s showpiece home-and-away round descending on Brisbane, many in the game are hoping to avoid more refereeing controversy this weekend.
Abdo confirmed a directive would go out to officials in an effort to find some balance, particularly with regard to the Bunker intervention.
“There have been instances this round and this season where we shouldn’t have stopped play,” he said.
“Equally, there’s been some instances where we’ve missed sin bins.”
Abdo then confirmed the circumstances in which the Bunker will still intervene: “Only if it’s an exceptional, serious act of foul play, so that bar needs to be really high and we’ll have that communication with the referees this week.”
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The South African-born administrator also reinforced that player safety is paramount, and is the main reason behind the league's high-tackle focus across the past few seasons.
"We’ve been really consistent around this the last couple of years," Abdo added on NRL 360.
"We’re not going to apologise or take a backwards step for protecting players from head high shots."
Magic Round kicks off when the Sharks take on the Eels from Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.