There’s a concern the game has “gone too far” when it comes to protecting kickers in the wake of the “pathetic” and “embarrassing” sin-binning of Harry Grant.
Grant was controversially binned in the Storm’s loss to the Sharks on Saturday night after making very light contact with the leg of Daniel Atkinson while he was kicking the ball.
The Storm hooker was clearly stunned when given his marching orders by referee Grant Atkinson — and his feeling is shared by many throughout the game
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Veteran News Corp journalist Phil Rothfield slammed the decision on NRL 360 and compared it to similar incidents this season.
“I’m all for foul play policing but that was the most pathetic sin-binning I’ve ever seen on a rugby league field,” he said.
“I’ve got stats to back it up, there have been 11 incidents this year where players charging down have come into contact with the kicker’s legs. Two of those 11 have gone to the sin bin.
“That one was possibly a penalty, I would’ve been happy if they let the game go.
“But to have two senior referees — Adam Gee in the box and Grant Atkins on the field — to come up with a decision like that, you’re asking people to turn the television off.”
NRL 360 host Braith Anasta wasn’t happy with the decision either and called for “common sense” and “consistency” in the officiating of games.
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“I think it’s embarrassing,” he said.
“For our game to send Harry Grant off for 10 minutes in a critical moment… it’s crazy.
“I understand what the NRL are trying to do, they’re trying to protect the players. But there’s got to be common sense and there’s got to be consistency.
“There’s no consistency and we’ve seen nine other incidents where players have not even been barely penalised let alone given 10 in the bin.
“Do we have any common sense in our game?”
Gorden Tallis, however, can see what the game is trying to do and questioned whether the players’ contact with kickers has forced the NRL’s hand.
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“I think they’re trying to make it black and white… they’re trying to say ‘you are not allowed to come into contact with the legs’,” he said.
“If it’s consistent the fans will move on with it. I don’t think it’s a sin bin but it’s where the game wants to head.
“The game put it on themselves, because everyone was just hitting the kicker, every time they kicked it they’d come and put the kicker on the ground.
“They kept on hitting the kicker, it started getting later and they (the NRL) went ‘no’, so they’ve started going at the leg. So did the players bring this on themselves?
“If you leave it in the players’ hands and you come back with common sense they’ll hit a bit harder and a bit harder.”
Meanwhile, retired forward James Graham is very familiar with making contact with a kicker’s legs. He was infamously penalised — but not sin binned — for attacking Adam Reynolds’ legs on Good Friday in 2015.
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He worries that the game has “gone too far” and believes there’s a difference between attacking a kicker’s legs and what Grant did.
He’s also “delighted” that the Storm and Grant will face the NRL Judiciary on Tuesday night to challenge the grade one dangerous contact charge.
“This protection of the kickers and what the NRL are trying to implement here has gone too far,” he said.
“There’s a difference between making contact with a kicker’s leg and attacking the legs of the kicker — I think that should be outlawed.
“I’ve made that mistake in doing that myself, attacking where the ball will be and taking the legs of the kicker. That rightly so should be gone.
“But if you actually look at that (incident), Harry Grant doesn’t go anywhere near the legs, he occupies the space in where the foot of Atkinson goes.
“In no way is this foul play. I’m delighted that Harry Grant and the Melbourne Storm are choosing to fight it.”
Source Agencies
