Explainer: What is a 'disruptor' tackle

The policing of the “disruptor” tactic by match officials is aimed at ensuring a fair contest between a defending player attempting to field a kick and a chaser from the attacking team competing for the ball in the air.

NRL Head of Football Graham Annesley has provided clarity on the rule after several controversial calls in Round 6 matches, which he said had “set the bar too high”.

However, Annesley insisted that match officials would continue to penalise offenders from either side who illegally obstruct an opposition player – as in any situation in the game.

“The reason this rule is in place is to ensure that both a kick-chaser and an opposition catcher are given a fair opportunity to compete for the ball,” Annesley said.

“What we were seeing over multiple seasons was more and more instances of players from the kicker’s side racing through with no real intention to compete for the ball, but purely to try and distract or interfere with a catcher’s ability to catch the ball.

“It's really obstruction and the rules for over 100 years have said that you can't deliberately obstruct someone who doesn't have possession of the ball.

“If you've got a catcher waiting under the ball and he gets interfered with, that's always been illegal but over a period of time, clubs got better and better at trying to disguise that.”

Annesley confirmed that match officials had erred in two incidents in Round 6 matches which resulted in Roosters centre Robert Toia being denied a try and Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater being penalised while attempting to diffuse a kick.

“The NRL believes that they were genuine contests for the ball and should have been permitted,” he said.

“What we're trying to stop is players from either side not being given the opportunity to compete fairly for the ball. That's the bottom line.”

To determine whether there has been interference of obstruction with a player attempting to catch the ball, match officials look for the following indicators:

• players arriving early
• players not having their eyes on the ball but purely on the man
• players who jump through a contest and throw an arm out

“They're all indicators, but they don't on their own necessarily mean that it's a disruptor or not," Annesley said.

"It depends on the circumstances because if a player jumps through a contest, for example, and has no impact whatsoever on the catcher, then you're going to play on. The only objective is to give both teams a fair opportunity.”

Annesley said that there was no blanket ban on one-handed bat-backs of a kick to a team-mate, provided there was no interference with an opposition player attempting to catch the ball.

“That can be a bit of a skill in itself, but one of the indicators of disruption could be that a player uses one hand but literally swats at the ball, while making no genuine attempt to compete for it, and in doing so, just barrels into the catcher and takes the catcher out,” he said.

“Each case is going to be different, each case is going to require the judgement of the match officials, and there won't be universal agreement on these things. Like all things that happen in our game there will be divided opinions, but what we want the match officials to do is to try and get the balance right.”