A day after Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson insisted his team played the game in the right spirit, the NRL has conceded it has concerns about the growing trend of players staying down to milk penalties.
Robinson wouldn’t be drawn on South Sydney’s tactics in Sunday’s spiteful showdown at Allianz Stadium, declining to comment on perceptions of gamesmanship by the Rabbitohs during his team’s loss.
NRL head of football Graham Annesley wouldn’t discuss specific incidents, but admitted there was cause for concern following a spate of incidents which led to the bunker intervening to award a penalty in the Roosters-Rabbitohs clash.
“I think yesterday is not a good example of what we’ve seen throughout the course of the year,” Annesley said.
“I am concerned about the issue of players waiting for the intervention of officials, but that’s not isolated to yesterday. That’s something we’re constantly monitoring and reviewing, and we will review that again in the off-season.
“We just have to work hard to find ways of dealing with that so it’s not an ongoing problem. But in some cases when these players stay down, it’s because they are injured. I’m not going to stand here and pretend it’s not something we’re monitoring and unprepared to deal with.”
Jai Arrow insists Rabbitohs players didn’t lie down after being tackled in Sunday’s clashCredit:Getty
“It’s a co-operative fix and it’s not something we can necessarily just address through mandating certain player reactions. I can’t stand here and tell you today I’ve got the magic solution to the problem, and you can’t force players to get up when they are injured. It’s a delicate balance and something which requires an approach across the game to solve it.”
South Sydney forward Jai Arrow insists his side wasn’t deliberately stopping play to force the bunker into awarding his team a penalty.
“It’s a tough one, Trent [Robinson] explained it pretty well, and nobody is out there to stay down and milk a penalty,” Souths forward Jai Arrow said.
“We play a tough game, and when you get hit in the head hard enough, you do stay down, not to milk anything, but to recover as much as you can. Both teams weren’t staying down on Sunday to milk penalties.
“Nobody goes out to make contact with the head. The way the game panned out, it was physical and both sides were into each other. There were seven sin-binnings. Fans will try to get stuck into you [if you stay down]. It’s all part of the game. You also don’t want to get up too quickly, stumble and then potentially be put out for the game.”
Robinson was asked whether he believed Sunday’s game was marred by players – from both teams – staying down.
“I’ll just say [we] didn’t lie down for any penalties. I take umbrage to the suggestion that we lied down for penalties, because we didn’t,” Robinson said.
“I don’t have an opinion on theirs. I have an opinion on us and that’s that we won’t do it, it’s not going to happen. You can see I’m passionate about that and that won’t happen and I’d ask you to have a look and say where we did that, just don’t say in general because that didn’t happen from our end.”
Trent Robinson’s exchange with The Herald after the game
Michael Chammas: Do you think the more players that were penalised or binned, the more players became aware that if they stayed down or if the game stopped there would be an opportunity there for a penalty? Did you see it as a problem today and do you see it as a problem for the rest of the finals?
Trent Robinson: Are you saying on the Roosters side?
MC: Nah just in general.
TR: Are you saying that the Roosters lied down there.
MC: No, the game in general. Like a lot of those sin bins were referees getting instruction from the bunker, they weren’t actually called in the play.
TR: Yeah sure, but I’m asking, are you saying that the Roosters lied down for penalties in that game?
MC: No, just in general. I can’t remember all of them because there were that many but it felt like they went upstairs a lot.
TR: I’ll just say they didn’t lie down for any penalties. I take umbrage to the suggestion that we lied down for penalties, because we didn’t.
MC: What about Souths?
TR: I don’t have an opinion on theirs. I have an opinion on us and that’s that we won’t do it, it’s not going to happen. You can see I’m passionate about that and that won’t happen and I’d ask you to have a look and say where we did that, just don’t say in general because that didn’t happen from our end.
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