Bulldogs back-rower Jacob Preston could be in hot water with the match review committee after he was sin-binned for a hip drop tackle on Rabbitohs winger Izack Thompson.
The incident in the 62nd minute saw Preston try to drag down, who had to leave the field with an ankle injury due to the contentious tackle.
“He has hurt himself, clutching at the left ankle there Izack Thompson,” Dan Ginnane said.
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“He rolled straight over as soon as he played it.”
“His left ankle was rolled under the body of Preston,” Cooper Cronk added.
Off the next stoppage in play, referee Gerard Sutton placed Preston on report and sent him to the sin bin.
“He is on report and in the bin and it is going to be a penalty to Souths,” Sutton said.
Ginanne noted the NRL’s clear directive to clubs this week to try and stamp the hip drop tackle out of the game.
“Jacob Preston is sent to the sin bin for a hip drop,” Ginnane said.
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“The clubs were warned this week and there was evidence last week, the officials were going to be deadly on this.
“That has been determined as a hip drop.”
Cronk had no doubt it was a hip drop based on how the rules are being policed at the moment to try and get this type of tackle out of the game.
“I can’t argue with that on a second look,” Cronk said.
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“Preston was trying to stop momentum and has given his full body weight on the back of Thompson and has fallen on the back of his leg and caused an injury so I can’t argue with that.”
“That was no better than some we saw last Sunday,” Ginnane added.
However Greg Alexander was unsure if it was a clear hip drop tackle.
“I don’t know if he finds himself in trouble,” Alexander said.
“It certainly wasn’t your garden variety hip drop tackle. He didn’t come in from behind did he?”
Guest Fox League panellist and Roosters star Luke Keary was confused with the decision.
“I’m a bit confused,” Keary said.
“There is the obvious ones with two men up the top and the one where you slide down the back of their legs.
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“But these one on ones are confusing to me. That doesn’t look like a hip drop to me. That is one guy trying to bring another down.
“I do that every second tackle. The weight thing is a big one. I do five or six of them a game and it doesn’t affect the big back-rowers because I am 80 kilograms going down the back of them.
“They are dangerous, but the one-on-one I don’t think that was a hip drop tackle.”
Souths were also reportedly unhappy about a potential hip drop tackle on Tevita Tatola in the first two minutes of the game.
