NRL considers tougher laws on dangerous throws

  • We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.

Jethro

Star Trekkin' across the universe
Staff member
Premium Member
Tipping Member
The NRL's competition committee will next month consider changing the definition of a dangerous throw so that players performing tackles such as the one made by Gold Coast hooker Beau Falloon no longe
storm-titans1.jpg
r escape a judiciary charge.

Melbourne officials sought an official explanation for the lack of action against Falloon for an ugly tackle on Storm centre Will Chambers on Sunday, but the match review committee is only able to charge a player with a dangerous throw if they believe the ball carrier had been lifted into a position where the first point of contact with the ground was likely to be his head or neck.

Chambers came down on his forearm and shoulder before rolling in an action players are taught when lifted, but by doing so, the Queensland Origin hopeful not only protected himself from possible injury, he saved Falloon a judiciary charge.

However, many in the game feel Chambers was still placed in a dangerous position, and Fairfax Media has been told the competition committee will carefully consider what constitutes a dangerous throw and whether more needs to be done to discourage such tackles, including heavier penalties.

If the competition committee feels players should be charged for tackles similar to that made by Falloon, they may recommend the definition of a dangerous throw be changed. This would enable the match review panel to be confident a charge would not be thrown out at the judiciary because it was unlikely the first point of contact with the ground would be the ball carrier's head or neck.

It is expected the committee will discuss whether any player who puts another in a dangerous position with a lifting tackle should be charged.

The International Rugby Board made a similar amendment in 2010 to enable officials to take action over dangerous throws, even if the tackled player breaks his fall with his arm, as the previous version of the rule only applied if the ball carrier landed on his head or neck.

The IRB also recommended a dangerous throw, or "tip tackle", should be punished with a send off.

The NRL rules committee, which includes Newcastle coach Wayne Bennett, Sydney Roosters mentor Trent Robinson, Australian coach Tim Sheens and former Kangaroos captain Darren Lockyer, will also look at whether there has been a rise in lifting tackles this season and if there needs to be a greater deterrent by increasing penalties.

The NRL is collecting data and statistics to present at the quarterly meeting.

If there are concerns about the tackling techniques of certain teams, they will be spoken to about the need to modify their approach.

But it would not be unprecedented for the NRL to announce harsher penalties mid-season, as happened in 2012 when the penalties for dangerous throws were increased to their existing range of between 125 demerit points for a grade-one offence and 925 demerit points for a grade-five tackle.

The penalty for each grade increases by 200 demerit points, as highlighted in the difference between the one-match ban imposed on St George Illawarra prop Jack de Belin for a grade-one dangerous throw on South Sydney's Sam Burgess last Saturday night and the three-match suspension given to Storm forward Jordan McLean for his grade-two dangerous throw on McKinnon.

The competition committee recommended changes to put an end to the "cannonball" tackle this season by making it illegal for a third defender to hit the ball carrier below the knees.

However, before introducing the change, the committee spent six months looking at the number of three-man tackles in a game, the percentage of three-man tackles compared to other tackles in a match, the prevalence of cannonball tackles and the injury rate from such tackles.

A similar detailed analysis will be conducted before the NRL decides to outlaw all lifting tackles, meaning it is almost certain there will not be a ban introduced this season.

Only three of the 23 incidents that have resulted in a player being charged with a dangerous throw since 2012 involved more than two defenders.

Brad Walter

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/nrl-considers-tougher-laws-on-dangerous-throws-20140411-zqtly.html
 
The NRL's competition committee will next month consider changing the definition of a dangerous throw so that players performing tackles such as the one made by Gold Coast hooker Beau Falloon no longer escape a judiciary charge.

Read More
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
Back
Top Bottom