'Behavioural change': Annesley hails 50% drop in judiciary charges and bans

Judiciary charges and suspensions have more than halved this season as players responded to a crackdown on high shots, crusher tackles and shoulder charges.

The number of charges issued by the Match Review Committee has dropped from 317 last year to 158 this season, while the time players spent on the sidelines while serving bans was down 60 per cent from 223 matches to just 85.

The fall in suspensions follows changes to the judiciary system at the end of last season to avoid star players being rubbed out of the game due to loadings and carryover points from minor offences. 

However, NRL head of football Graham Annesley said players had also amended their tackling techniques after a crackdown in 2021 by match officials and the MRC.

"What that has driven has been behavioural change by players and we are not seeing anywhere near the same number of incidents of contact with the head and neck, in particular," Annesley said.

Significantly, there had been just 40 charges for high tackles this season compared to 109 last year, while crusher tackles were down from 34 in 2021 and 28 in 2020 to just 14 this year.

There was also a reduction in shoulder charges, late tackles and the number of players charged for their involvement in melees or fights.

However, hip drops and lifting tackles were on the rise and there is likely to be discussion during the off-season about whether harsher penalties are needed for those offences.

This coincided with an in increase in grade two and three charges issued by the MRC.

“This belies any perception that the judiciary has gone soft because while grade one charges are down, grade two charges are up and grade three charges are up significantly from four per cent last year to 10 per cent this year," Annesley said.

“One of the changes we set out to introduce earlier this year when we did review the judiciary was to keep the players on the field as much as possible, particularly for minor infringements.

"Last year we saw a lot of players suspended for the cumulative affect of prior offences - loadings, carryover points - and missing important games or missing games generally for what were relatively minor offences.

"We need to keep the pressure on those minor offences to try to eliminate them as much as possible but we don’t want to see people missing games.

"Players are fined for those minor offences and it is a personal deterrent on those players, they do have to put their hand in their pocket to pay those fines. 

“What we have been able to do with the changes we have introduced is see a massive drop in suspension weeks.

"That’s good for clubs and its good for fans because star players are on the field more often, but where they do commit a serious offence that is when players will miss weeks."