Andrew Johns put his microphone down for the final 23 minutes of Nine’s coverage of the Wests Tigers’ upset win over the Sharks on Sunday, revealing on Freddy and The Eighth on Monday night that he was acting in protest following a sin bin blitz to police high contact during round eight.
Johns was mute for the thrilling golden point game’s conclusion, after the call to sin bin Fonua Pole for a high shot that was initially missed by the on-field officials but was pulled up by the Bunker several plays later.
“Just another sooky pants moment,” Johns joked.
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“Oh, it was just frustrating. It was doing my head in. I just wanted to throw the microphone. So I left it up to (co-commentators) Freddy (Brad Fittler) and The Tank (Mat Thompson), they unloaded.”
Andrew Johns discusses the Bunker’s use of slow-motion replays. Nine
Johns went on to applaud the NRL for recognising that the Bunker was having too much influence and making a change to stop the video review official for jumping in to intervene several plays after a high tackle unless it was deemed to be a serious incident.
That change will be implemented for Magic Round, according to NRL CEO Andrew Abdo, who spoke on 2GB on Monday afternoon, then again as a guest on Nine’s 100% Footy on Monday night.
Abdo told 2GB that the NRL wants to see the Bunker only intervene for “serious acts of foul play” after 18 sin bins during round eight.
“I think the Bunker, things like when two players go up to catch a ball, just show it in real time, have a look at it twice,” Johns said on Freddy and the Eighth, calling for the NRL to avoid using slow-motion replays to make decisions.
“If the (ball) touches their finger and goes into another player, who cares? Just show it in real time. Same as when a ball’s bouncing from a grubber kick, if someone dives on the ball just show it in real time.
“I understand when the ball is near the dead ball line, you can use super slow motion there but super slow mo, it paints a different picture.
“Every time the ball goes into the air, it feels like we’re looking for a reason not to give the try, just show it in real time. If it looks like a try, it’s a try.”
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As for the head high contact, Johns had previously expressed his frustration on the Sunday Footy Show, describing the situation as “farcical”.
Fittler, meanwhile, believes there needs to be a correction in who gets protected during a tackling contest.
“About 60 per cent of people getting taken off the field is because they’re tackling, so the majority of these are people who were tackling so it tells you we’re protecting the wrong person and I think what’s happened is they’ve just gone into overdrive on the head contact stuff,” he said on Freddy and The Eighth.
“I don’t know whether it’s from paranoia about being sued in the future but it just went way too far over the last two weekends.
“Three weeks ago, Andrew and Graham Annesley actually came out and spoke about how they missed a couple. Jarome Luai actually ended up getting a couple of weeks sidelined and they missed that during the game.
Jarome Luai’s high shot. Fox League
“There was three people during that week and from there, there was just a reaction and that’s what happens in our game a lot, there’s just a reaction through criticism that we may have missed something but at the end of the day, move on.”
On Monday night, Abdo was also quizzed by Nine’s 100% Footy panel over the drama from the weekend.
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When it was put to Abdo by Paul Gallen that accidents happen, the NRL boss claimed certain clubs are managing high contact better than others.
“The important thing here is the risk of injury to the player, not whether or not they get an injury but what is that action in terms of the risk of the injury,” he said.
“For decades it’s been illegal to hit players in the head and to have high tackles and we’ve been sin binning and sending players off for decades.
“What we’re trying to get right now is refining what that bar is and getting that balance right and what we’re seeing is some players adapting their game very effectively.
“Some of the teams have not have a sin bin for a head high shot in eight rounds. We’ve had some teams only give away three penalties for head high tackles, some teams as high as 19. It shows teams are able to adapt to this and understand the standard that’s accepted.”
