NRL vow to clamp down on crusher and late tackles

Drew Darbyshire

The NRL is set clamp down on crusher and late tackles immediately.

Referees will be able to sin bin and send off players who they deem guilty of serious offences from Thursday night onwards.

The NRL has also changed its match review process. All crusher tackles which are deemed reckless or intentional will be directly referred to the judiciary panel.

If a player is referred straight to the judiciary for a crusher tackle, it will carry a minimum of 500 points (five games) if found guilty.

NRL head of football, Graham Annesley, told NRL.com: “This directive has been issued to try and improve the level of deterrent against these types of incidents in our game at the more serious end of the scale.

“We’re talking about crusher tackles and late tackles. There will be still be lesser incidents dealt with the way they have in the past, but these changes are intended to come down much more severely on the upper end of the scale, reckless and intentional crusher tackles that have the potential to seriously injure players.

“We want to see them eradicated from the game as much as possible.

“We went through a similar process with dangerous throws in the game. We hope this will have the same effect on crushers and late tackles.”

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