Wayne Bennett has put forward a solution to the NRL's hip-drop challenge, while insisting the troublesome tackle is not coached into players.
Brisbane's Payne Haas and Ezra Mam were on Saturday lined up for suspension after being charged with grade-two dangerous contact for hip-drop tackles in Friday night's 26-16 win at Parramatta.
Hip-drop tackles can occur in one-on-one situations - such as those for which Mam and Haas were penalised - or when a third man comes in to put an attacker on the ground.
Bennett said referees had a part to play in managing the tackle out of the game.
"Players are allowed to stand for too long going virtually nowhere and that just opens themselves up for that third man in," the veteran Dolphins coach said.
"Referees have got to be better at determining when a tackle has been made ... and just say, 'Play the ball'.
"Keep that third guy out of it as much as they can because he is the one doing the damage.
"We wouldn't have as many penalties after a while. Players will get the message."
Bennett recognised players were also occasionally falling victim to hip drops in one-on-one situations.
The Dolphins coach said the hip-drop tackle had not previously been part of the game and had "come out of the blue".
"This is one (tackle) I don't think any coach coaches," he said.
"It is more to do with the psyche of the player and maybe the team meetings and what the coaches want," Bennett said.
"They want the player on the ground and they have kind of introduced a bit of a method of getting the player on the ground.
"Players can certainly bend the rules a bit and ... adjust to situations. That is where the hip-drop tackle has started ... innocently and not deliberately to hurt people.
"It is a crazy trend because I don't believe it is being coached. It is just happening out there on the field."
Bennett stressed the hip-drop tackle had seeped into the repertoire of players subconsciously.
A legs tackle, where the attacker finds their front and gets a quick play the ball, is not what coaches want. There is no reward for that kind of tackle.
Bennett said consistency in officiating, which has all but removed the chicken-wing and cannonball tackles from the game, was paramount.
"They are pretty ruthless with it at the moment, the game is. Players are getting suspended," he said.
"I found over a period time that when the game gets onto an issue, and stays consistent with it, it invariably finds itself not happening as much."
