NRL football boss Graham Annesley has rubbished suggestions the game is in the midst of a crackdown on hip-drop tackles, warning head office wouldn't back down after another weekend in which the technique has dominated headlines.
Annesley claimed League Central made no excuses for their tough stance on the tackle, which is defined by a defender grabbing an opponent, twisting their body and then dropping their weight onto the back of an attacking player's legs.
But Annesley said the 11 charges dished out before the start of round eight were a result of players' failure to adapt to an edict handed down in July 2020.
"It's not a new phenomenon, it's not a crackdown, it's been an ongoing campaign of the game to try and eliminate this type of tackle," Annesley said.
"(Or) at least minimise this type of tackle, to the point where it provides greater safety for players playing the game."
The Australian Rugby League Commission is expected to meet this week and has the power to review the NRL's policy on hip-drop tackles, although Annesley was keen for their existing approach to continue.
"We can't just hurl up the white flag and say 'gee, we're not going to be able to get this out of the game so we're just going to have to let it go'," Annesley said.
"If I was a player and I was getting injured by something like that then I wouldn't be very happy about it."
Annesley said all of the data was "heading in the wrong direction" after another weekend where the tackle polarised debate.
Referee Ashley Klein failed to sanction Brisbane prop Payne Haas after he pulled off a hip-drop tackle on Reagan Campbell-Gillard in the Broncos' 26-16 win over Parramatta.
Earlier in the game, Klein had sin-binned Eels forward J'Maine Hopgood for a hip-drop tackle.
In the minute before Haas' tackle, he had also sent Broncos five-eighth Ezra Mam for 10 minutes for the same offence.
Campbell-Gillard is now looking at a lengthy stint on the sideline with a suspected groin injury while Haas was charged by the match review committee and will miss one week due to suspension.
Klein may have missed the tackle in the heat of the moment but the in-action is all the more frustrating for Parramatta because the bunker does have the power to pause play and pull things back.
Annesley hit back at the suggestion that Klein didn't want to take the difficult decision to reduce Brisbane to 11 men.
"If it requires a player being sent to the sin bin or sent off, the referees have demonstrated over a long period of time that they will do that," he said.
"They're not going to wimp out of a decision because (the referees think) 'I better not put someone else in the sin bin'."
HIP-DROP TACKLE CHARGES BY SEASON
2020 - 9
2021 - 14
2022 - 22
2023 - 11*
*Rounds one to seven
