Trent Robinson says the NRL needs to consider overhauling its sin bin protocols “to keep the integrity of the game” as a broken hand suffered by superstar Joey Manu places further strain on the Roosters dwindling outside back stocks.
Manu reeled out of contact midway through the Roosters 40-6 thrashing of the Wests Tigers, with the rugby-bound superstar undergoing scans late on Sunday night and expected to miss several weeks.
An injured Joey Manu leaves the field.Credit: Getty Images
Manu joins fellow star flyer Joseph Suaalii on the sidelines, alongside teammates Junior Pauga (suspension), Billy Smith (ankle) and Rob Toia (knee), leaving Trent Robinson short on options out wide.
Suaalii will miss next Sunday’s clash with the Dragons as the final match in his four-game ban, while Michael Jennings returned from a hamstring issue in NSW Cup on Saturday.
The Tigers have their own personnel issues after tireless skipper Api Koroisau was put on report twice for a lifting tackle on Lindsay Collins and dropping his knees into his back a minute earlier.
John Bateman was also cited for a high shot and Adam Doueihi was sin-binned for what was deemed a hip-drop tackle on Dominic Young, with both Robinson and Tigers coach Benji Marshall questioning the decisions.
Robinson said he did not think Koroisau’s lifting tackle on Collins was worth 10 minutes in the bin, while Marshall said; “it’s a lottery at the moment and we seem to be on the [wrong] end of it.”
Fellow coaches Ricky Stuart and Trent Barrett also questioned officiating this weekend, while Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett called for sin bins to be abolished for foul play because of the impact reducing a team to 12 has on the game as a contest.
Tigers coach Benji Marshall acknowledged that the Roosters outplayed his side but joined fellow coaches Ricky Stuart and Trent Barrett in questioning the officiating this weekend.
“It definitely needs to be discussed,” Robinson said of the sin-bin’s use after 71 instances across the first 17 rounds of this season.
“It benefited my team tonight but from a game perspective, it’s more about what should happen to keep our game going. I don’t think anybody’s trying to get it wrong, it’s just we’re trying to get player safety up, which is really good for our game.
“But we’ve got to ask the question, ‘have we overcorrected? How do we keep the contest in the game and deal with it [through suspensions] afterwards?’”
Collins and Koroisau clashed several times after the Roosters took a 20-0 lead into halftime, with Englishman Young scoring two tries in three minutes to start the rot.
The Roosters played the dreary Allianz Stadium conditions to perfection, with halves Sam Walker and Luke Keary engineering four first-half tries and James Tedesco playing a lead role as usual.
Manu’s recoiling out of a seemingly innocuous fend on Adam Doueihi was the only blight on the Roosters evening, while the Tigers had nothing but a 79th-minute consolation try to show for their efforts.
The grit of the past two weeks remained at times, but was preempted by worrying defensive lapses – particularly when Terrell May strolled through their goal line defence – and a largely listless effort in attack.
At times Koroisau appeared their only attacking threat and conductor, with confusion reigning when he was sin-binned early in the second half.
Doueihi’s binning just as Koroisau returned to play ensured the Tigers were defending a man short for much of the second half and the Roosters were happy to cash in.
Daniel Tupou finished with a double as Tedesco and Victor Radley also scored in a six-minute, three-try flurry late in the contest before Tigers prop Fonua Pole crashed over.