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"Dumb, stupid rules" ruining NRL
SEN • May 3rd, 2025 12:10 pm
Ex-NRL player Shaun Johnson has unleashed on the current high tackle crackdown saying the current rules are “dumb” and are destroying the sport.
There were a record 18 sin bins in round eight with fears that number could soar across Magic Round this weekend.
The debate has raged in recent weeks regarding the rules, umpiring inconsistencies and overuse of the bunker and Johnson has had enough.
“I can actually say whatever I want now, so here we go,' Johnson he said on the Play On Sports Show podcast.
“I can appreciate the rules are in place to protect the players. At the end of the day, all they're trying to do is protect the players, right? But they are so dumb. How far they've let this go, it's stupid. Like proper stupidity.
“Accidents are a part of our sport. We play it knowing that.”
The apparent lack of consistency and understanding of the rules has Johnson calling for more common sense, particularly when it comes to player intent.
“Seriously, you're wrecking the product,' he said.
“You're taking a whole week's prep away from a team, going on the road to try and achieve something together. It's actually so frustrating as a player, or ex-player.
“Now there is intent and there's malice. So if someone comes across the top with a swinging arm of doom, or jumps off the ground and lifts an elbow, send them. Ten minutes at the bare minimum.'
“But if you've got somebody making a chopping tackle which lowers the person's body height last minute, and you've got Kodi Nikorima, who doesn't have a bad, aggressive bone in his body, clipping a chin, just through no movement, but just the head falling into the arm - common sense boys.
“Imagine some of these boys that played in the '80s. They must just be like going 'f--- you soft.' You're making us lose street cred, some of these boys that we've looked up to.
“Pull your head in, seriously. NRL, admit that, okay, we've gone too far with it. And just, look, you want to show malice and take someone's head off, we're going to charge you, sweet. We're happy with that, right?”
