NRL to overhaul suspension loopholes

George Clarke | March 3, 2022

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo has promised to overhaul the game’s suspension loopholes and fine systems, conceding there were grey areas that left players and coaches confused.

Fines and suspensions have caused confusion across the game after South Sydney’s Latrell Mitchell was allowed to include the All Stars game as one of his six games missed for his hit on Joey Manu last year.

Mitchell will now return in round two of the 2022 season.

Melbourne’s Brandon Smith and Warriors fullback Reece Walsh have also been allowed to use the representative fixture to count towards their bans for off-field incidents.

But the news is less positive for Canberra’s Jordan Rapana, who was given a one-game ban for a driving offence, played in the All Stars, copped a further two-game ban and was then allowed to serve his ban concurrently.

Abdo admitted the system was far too complicated and said the NRL would look to revamp the judiciary as soon as possible.

“I can understand the frustration of fans,” he said.

“What I have committed to is looking at standardising it and making it easier to understand.

“It’s important to note that it’s a complicated matter with representative games. We need to consider consistency and fairness.”

Abdo said the NRL would also consider recalibrating fines to reflect a player’s salary.

The fine system was originally introduced to stop players having to miss representative games.

However, last year the NRL issued close to $1 million in fines.

Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans, who is the general president of the Rugby League Players Association, told AAP he had spoken to players on minimum wage contracts ($80,000) who had been hit with fines north of $2000.

“I think we need to adapt with the times and look out for the fellas who aren’t earning a whole heap,” Cherry-Evans said.

“One guy nearly didn’t get paid for one month because of the fine he has. We recognise the need for punishments but they need to be scaled accordingly.”

Abdo said that would be considered during the review of the judiciary and match review committee.

“There’s a wide scope,” he said.

“We’re considering who makes the decisions, the sanctions and the mechanism for how that works.

“We’ll consider all of that and hopefully we will come up with a system that is transparent.”