NRL confident diving scourge won’t follow sin-bins
Scott Bailey and Joel Gould |
Andrew Abdo has played down concerns that the NRL’s high-tackle epidemic could lead to plague of diving, confident players won’t ruin Magic Round by trying to game the system.
Four years after the NRL’s most controversial crackdown overshadowed Magic Round in 2021, the game finds itself in an all-too-similar position this weekend.
Last week’s record number of 18 sin-bins shone a light directly onto foul play, with the NRL reporting an 88.5 per cent increase in high contact this year.
While adamant there has been no crackdown in recent weeks, NRL bosses have admitted the bunker intervened too often during last week’s spate of sin-bins.
They are confident that will change at Suncorp Stadium, ordering the bunker to only stop play and go back and sin-bin someone in the most serious of cases.
That has, in turn, brought on other concerns.
There is a fear ball-carriers could instead take matters into their own hands, staying down if hit high in a bid to stop play themselves and give the bunker time to act.
But NRL CEO Abdo said he did not expect the issue to become the story of Magic Round, with the three days of men’s football already sold out.
“I’m not worried,” Abdo said.
“The players are professionals and the referees know what they’re doing.
“They’ll make a call based on the incidents they see in front of them regardless of what happens in and around it. So I’m not concerned about that at all.
“Clearly we want the focus to be on football.”
Asked if he would make a plea to players to not attempt to milk penalties to ensure it did not become an issue, Abdo insisted there was no need to.
“Rugby league is about football and the players are professional. They know what to do,” he said.
“They don’t need any messages from me.
“Clearly we want a fair and fast and entertaining game and I’ll leave that to the clubs, the coaches and the players.”
NRL data this week showed 379 tackles had been identified as being high by the match review committee, at the rate of close to six per match.
There have been 201 penalties blown for high tackles this season, while $104,650 in fines have been handed out for foul play to go with 54 games in bans.
Canterbury will be the most impacted team of any, set to enter Sunday’s clash with Gold Coast without the suspended Matt Burton, Josh Curran and Sitili Tupouniua.
The Bulldogs also had three players sin-binned in their first loss of the season to Brisbane last week, in a match that set the tone for the weekend.
But like the Titans, who are the most penalised team in the competition for high tackles, they insist there are not systemic discipline issues.
AAP
