‘It’s not as easy as that’: Kurt Mann supports NRL’s swift response to sin bin farce and hits back at tackle technique claims

Bulldogs veteran Kurt Mann has welcomed the NRL’s directive for the bunker to not get so involved for acts of foul play as the fallout from last week’s high tackle furore continues just days out from Magic Round.

The Bulldogs will be without Matt Burton, Josh Curran and Sitili Tupouniua who are all suspended for Sunday’s clash with the Titans where all eyes will be on the officials and how they police foul play after there were 18 sin bins last week.

While some decisions were obvious, there were a few baffling calls to send players to the sin bin, especially with the bunker going back several plays to penalise incidental high contact that had been missed during the run of play.

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo and other officials have come out this week and conceded that the bar was too low for bunker intervention at times last week, although they maintain that players should be prepared to pay the price if they continue to infringe in Brisbane.

“I can understand some of them. Some of them are pretty clear cut. It’s hard to not enforce the rules there,” Mann said on Wednesday, with stats revealing that players have paid more than $100,000 in fines and copped 54 games on the sidelines this season.

“On the other hand, some of them are kind of frustrating. Not just in our game but in some of the other games as well. Momentum is everything in the modern game.

“You can swing momentum that easily. A minor infringement can cost you a whole game. It makes it hard.

“You can’t blame the referees. They’re just the ones enforcing it. It’s not their fault.

“A lot of people are getting frustrated and don’t agree with it. But you can see both sides of the coin as well. They’re just trying to protect the players.”

The bunker’s need to go back several plays for minor contact last week was an overreach in some instances, with NRL Immortal Andrew Johns putting down the headset during commentary on Sunday afternoon following a controversial sin bin that only resulted in a fine from the match review committee.

But that won’t happen again at Magic Round, with the bunker to only get involved for serious offences that are clear sin bins or worthy of a send-off.

“It’s definitely a good idea. I don’t think you should stop the free-flowing nature of the game. I don’t think you should be going back and sending blokes off for something that happened eight plays before,” Mann said.

“If it wasn’t significant enough to stop the game, then it shouldn’t be significant to stop it now.”

One of the pushbacks from some experts has been that players should simply lower their targets to avoid any risk of hitting an opponent in the head, but Mann is adamant that it’s much harder than it sounds, especially when a ball carrier drops in height before contact.

“I don’t know where they’re getting that from. If things happen in a split second, someone can run into a player next to you and ricochet into you. It’s not as easy as just lowering target areas,” he said.

“It’s not as easy as that. When you’re out in the middle and you’re in the washing machine, you’re just doing your best. You’re just trying to make the tackles at some point.

“There obviously has to be an onus on the players as well to do the right thing. But it’s not as clear-cut and as easy as just lowering target areas.

“The falling ones, I don’t know what you’re supposed to do there, or if someone’s lowered their contact level, hit them around the legs, but they fall head first into someone next to them.

“There’s not a whole heap you can do in that situation if you’re with a bloke. And to get sent for 10 on something like that would be pretty disappointing, right?”