NRL wants to clean up hip-drop confusion

Scott Bailey | April 26, 2023

The Australian Rugby League Commission has asked the NRL to provide more clarity to coaches on what a hip-drop tackle is after a spate of controversial suspensions and sin-bins.

The hip-drop tackle has dominated the opening part of the 2023 season.

Coaches have grown increasingly frustrated by in-game sin-binnings and subsequent suspension for the tackles which have resulted in 14 charges already this year.

There had been reports earlier in the week that the ARLC was unhappy with the NRL’s approach to eradicate the tackle.

NRL football manager Graham Annesley has insisted that the competition hasn’t launched a game-wide crackdown but chief executive Andrew Abdo told AAP it was important that the definition of the tackle was easy to understand.

“The Commission is pushing for us to provide more clarity around what is and what isn’t a hip-drop tackle, what the indicators are, and educating everyone,” Abdo said.

“That includes the coaches and the players and the public on the indicators so everyone knows what is and what isn’t a hip-drop tackle.”

The hip-drop tackle is where a defending player swings their weight onto the back of an opponent’s leg in a bid to halt the ball-carrier.

It has the potential to cause injury, highlighted by the fact Parramatta prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard is set to miss the next two months following a tackle by Brisbane prop Payne Haas.

The Broncos forward will miss this week’s game against South Sydney with suspension but was not sin-binned during the win over the Eels.