The most contentious issue in the game has reared its ugly head for the first time during Magic Round with Warriors gun Jackson Ford being sent to the sin bin for a hip-drop tackle.
Panthers prop Spencer Leniu charged the ball into the line and almost broke through the Warriors’ defence in the second half.
Ford then slipped behind his opponent and landed on Leniu’s legs causing the Panthers enforcer to scream out in pain before he left the field.
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“We haven’t seen any hip-drop drama at Magic Round, Leniu just grimacing in pain here,” commentator Warren Smith said.
“It’s that action of just pulling down onto the back of the legs, it is difficult isn’t it.”
Referee Todd Smith called the Warriors backrower out of the line and raised ten fingers, giving Ford his marching orders after a Bunker review.
“You rotate the hips and land on the legs, it’s on report and you’re in the bin,” referee Todd Smith said.
“He was in a good position there Jackson Ford, but he did choose to spin the body and use his side to come down on the legs,” Warren Smith said.
Hip-drop tackles have been the subject of debate across the opening 10 rounds of the 2023 season with several players receiving bans.
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Broncos duo Ezra Mam and Payne Haas were handed one-game bans for hip-drop tackles in Round 8, while Dale Finucane was slapped with a three-game suspension earlier in the season.
Speaking ahead of Magic Round, NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo denied suggestions another crackdown was on the cards.
However, he made it clear — players will be penalised for hip-drop tackles.
In 2021, the NRL put the focus on high contact during the three-day festival of football which saw 14 players sent to the sin bin.
“Let me make it really clear, if you grab rotate or drop, you are going to be penalised on the field and you are going to be penalised by the Match Review Committee,” Abdo said.
“We have made that clear to the players and to the clubs and it is up to them to adjust, it presents an unacceptable risk.
“We have seen players miss weeks and weeks from it, it is not legal.”
