The sin bin has seen an increase this NRL season with 59 incidents, a jump up from just 31 incidents this time last year.
Source NRL.com
NRL fan, Atreus Dolden said the increase seems to be a result of an over enforcement of penalties, turning what would have just been a penalty or even play on, into a sin bin, with players having to leave the field.
“It’s a crackdown, plain and simple,” they said.
“Look at the Anzac game [Dragons V Roosters]. I’m a Dragons fan but the Roosters had a player [sin] binned in that game for grazing a Dragons player’s face.”
Dolden said it caused confusion over what constitutes a sin bin, making the game feel impossible to understand.
“One second a player can be getting [sin] binned for a tackle that should never be one, then a moment later the same tackle can happen and nothing happens,” they said
“It turns the game into a complete farce.”
After Round 8 on NRL 360, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said that nothing had changed in the officiating, and the increase was due to players committing more high shots.
“This time last year, up to round 8, we had about 200 head high tackles, this year we’ve had about 379,” Mr Abdo said.
While the statistics for high tackles are difficult to verify, the penalty count this year has seen an increase, going from an average of 85 per round to 94, a roughly 11 per cent increase.
Source: NRL.com
High tackles have gone from 30 per cent of all penalties to 49 per cent, a very sharp increase.
“It hasn’t been a crackdown at all, there’s been no policy shift,” Abdo said.
“We’ve been really consistent about this in the last couple of years, we’re not going to apologise or take a backwards step for protecting players from head high shots.”
“It needs to stop.”
Additional reporting by Portia Johnson