Players will be sent to the sin bin up to 15 minutes after committing a high tackle that forces an opponent out of a game with concussion under a radical proposal put forward by a handful of NRL coaches.
Hoping to achieve consistency when it comes to punishing high tackles, the coaches approached the governing body late last month to suggest testing a new rule as early as the pre-season trials, which begin on Friday.
Fans were left frustrated and confused at times last season by a perceived lack of consistency in imposing penalties on players guilty of high tackles.
One of the most controversial examples involved the New Zealand Warriors, when Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was knocked out by a high shot from Canterbury skipper Stephen Crichton, who remained on the field.
Crichton was subsequently hit with a grade-two careless high tackle charge by the match review panel, and NRL referees boss Graham Annesley later admitted the on-field officials had erred in not sending him to the sin bin.
Some coaches have proposed a new rules to deal with high tackles and sin-bins.Credit: Getty
Referees still have the option to send a player straight from the field if they deem a high tackle could have caused serious injury.
But under the new proposal put forward by select coaches, the sin bin would only be used if the tackled player failed a head injury assessment. The player will remain on the field until the HIA results are made known.
Even if a player needed the maximum 15 minutes to undergo concussion testing protocols, and failed, play would be stopped and the offender given a ten-minute time-out.
For example, if Penrith’s Nathan Cleary tackled Manly’s Tom Trbojevic high in the 20th minute, and Trbojevic failed his HIA in the 35th minute, only then would Cleary be sent to the bin.
“It’s all about trying to get more consistency in terms of what is a sin bin and what is not a sin bin when it comes to high tackles,” one club official who was aware of the situation but not authorised to speak publicly told this masthead.
Fans will question the fairness of a situation where an offending player scored a try while still on the field only to subsequently be sent to the bin when a tackled player failed an HIA, or whether referees should go as far to send a player off if the tackled player did not return.
One NRL coach, who had not heard about the proposal late on Monday and spoke on the condition of anonymity, asked what would stop clubs trying to hit a star player with a high tackle late in a game if they knew there would be no immediate sin-binning until the HIA results were in.
The NRL were contacted but declined to comment on the proposals.
Even if the rule change is rushed in for the Pre-season Challenge, and receives positive feedback, the ARL Commission would not rubber-stamp any tweaks to the laws of the game until the start of the 2026 season because they have already committed to no rule changes for this year.
The only messaging that has been received in clubland is that referees plan to crack down on sloppy play-the-balls in the early rounds. This masthead highlighted last August that officials had failed to punish Penrith for a string of illegal play-the-balls when they steamed home late to beat Parramatta.
The obstruction rule will also be a focus, with referees told to reward good attacking play rather than poor defensive reads where a defender appears to be taken out.
