Cordner adamant playmakers must be protected

Sydney Roosters skipper Boyd Cordner said the NRL are moving in the right direction when it comes to player welfare, with Tevita Pangai Jnr facing a grade-two dangerous contact charge for his late tackle on Cooper Cronk.

Not only did the Broncos cop their worst ever loss to the Roosters but they also face losing Pangai for two weeks if he submits an early guilty plea, or three weeks if he contests the charge and loses at the judiciary.

There was plenty of debate over whether Pangai should have been sent to the sin bin but Cordner believes the right call was made.

"It was late," Cordner said.

"It probably wasn't intentional but at the same time we need to look after player welfare and think they got the call right at the end of the day.

"It is hard because as players we get told to put pressure on and when you have their key playmakers standing in front of you, you want to take away as much time as possible.

"But at the same time there has to be a duty of care and I think the game is trending in that direction where the player welfare is first and foremost and that showed in the decision of Tevita getting two or three weeks."

The Roosters have already had to get by without Cronk due to injury but Angus Crichton says it'd be even harder to take if they lost their star playmaker to a late shot.

"It obviously puts the player at risk because they're in a pretty vulnerable position, especially if they're relaxed and not expecting it," Crichton said.

"You don't want to see players like Cooper get injuries from shots like that because you want your best players on the park every week.

"I think there’s a line. I never try and put anyone in a position where you're going to hurt them outside of the rules."

Crichton produced his first 80-minute performance for his new club on Thursday after undergoing shoulder surgery in the off-season.

The second-rower said the most important thing was getting his body right before chucking him in the deep end for a full 80 minutes.

"I’m feeling really good," Crichton said

"Coming back from injury you need to be smart with pushing it too hard and doing just the right amount.

"For me it was making sure that my body was right and trying to build up every week to become better and stronger, because if you come back in too early you can start taking backwards steps.

"I'm still learning the way they play footy here and the way they want me to play – I think the better I get at that the better my footy will be."