Roosters backrower Nat Butcher could be set for a sideline stint after he was sent to the sin bin for an ugly hip drop tackle on Sharks enforcer Briton Nikora.
The NRL has cracked down on the dangerous tackling method in recent weeks, with Dale Finucane and Marata Niukore both being handed suspensions.
Now Butcher could join then after he delivered an ugly tackle in the 14th minute of the Roosters and Sharks’ clash.
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The 25-year-old backrower bounced off the chest of Nikora before he grabbed the Cronulla gun’s hips and dropped onto the back of his legs.
Nikora grabbed at his ankle and was clearly in pain, while referee Grant Atkins called Butcher out of the line and raised ten fingers.
Commentator Matt Russell labelled the tackle the “biggest issue” in the game and Steve Roach highlighted how dangerous it can be.
“That is a dangerous tackle there… just the way they wrap themselves under and then pull towards the tackle,” Roach said.
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“It’s a divisive issue in the game and it may be the biggest issue in the game at the moment and Nat Butcher has brought it sharply into focus again here,” Russell said.
“In the bin, which we could have forecast.”
Rugby league legend Michael Ennis was also asked if he believed Butcher was deserving of a sin bin and he backed the NRL’s stance.
“Given what we have seen in the last couple of weeks, Nat Butcher, unfortunately just shrugged off in the tackle,” Ennis said.
“He ends up sliding around the back and all his weight goes onto the back of his legs, and from what we have seen from the NRL that was nothing else but a sin bin.
“I think we are going to hear a bit more about that one… that is so dangerous,” Roach said.
