This is the page out of the South Sydney dossier designed to try and eradicate wrestling and grappling out of rugby league which will get all of the NRL talking.

Submitted to the NRL at the end of last year, the Bunnies spent $20,000 compiling the 21-page report and its recommendations aimed at beefing-up suspensions for any player who makes dangerous contact with the head and neck region of an opponent.

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The Bunnies have been at pains to point out the dossier is not specifically designed as a Melbourne Storm “bash-up” and have included examples of all clubs wrestling over the course of last season.

Round 20

Nelson Asofa-Solomona crusher tackle v Rabbitohs Source: Supplied

It’s widely accepted almost every NRL club now employs a full-time wrestling coach – the exception being Souths.

It is also well known the Storm have employed jiu-jitsu black belt John Donehue on the club’s coaching staff dating back to 2001.

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Which is what makes page 19 of the Rabbitohs report to the NRL so interesting.

Under the section titled “Protecting the head and neck” there is an entire page which references the “jiu-jitsu brotherhood” and the BJJ concept of “control the head”.

South Sydney Rabbitohs’ Cameron Murray takes it up against the Melbourne Storm Source: Supplied

“This is a fundamental concept which will help with the foundations of your game,” it reads.

“The head is attached to the top of the spinal column, and can therefore be used as a “lever” to steer the entire torso of an opponent in a desired direction, or stop movement in another.

“By twisting the head you can cause your opponent great discomfort, and severely compromise the mobility of his spine.

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“Also, as the head is the centre of a person’s physical awareness because it contains the brain and many of the major sense organs, it is very easy to distract and upset the rhythm of an opponent by interfering with the head.”

There is also a reference to martial arts book, The Black Belt Blue Print.

South Sydney general manager of football Shane Richardson is the official who has led the charge on this issue and genuinely wants to see wrestling and grappling tactics kept to a minimum from a player welfare point of view.

Ethan Lowe of the South Sydney Rabbitohs is tackled by the Storm Source: Getty Images

Richardson argues deliberately making and manipulating contact with the head and neck region of players is equally as concerning as the issue of concussion in the NRL.

The Rabbitohs general manager of football is also the official who sparked a hostile war of words leading into last year’s finals series by calling out some of the Storm’s tactics as being “not in the spirit of the game”.

Melbourne became enraged and strongly defended the club’s position and it made headline news for a month.

Fox Sports was given a 60-minute presentation of the South Sydney dossier last month but was told it was all “strictly off the record”. The story has since been leaked.

The result of the Rabbitohs presentation at the end of last year was the NRL has appointed Scott Barker to the role of full-time “football analyst”.

The Black Belt Blue Print book Source: Supplied

A former Brisbane Broncos, Newcastle Knights and St George Illawarra video analyst, Barker has also worked with the Kangaroos and England rugby league teams and is well known as one of Wayne Bennett’s right-hand men.

Barker was employed by South Sydney last season to review every single tackle from every single NRL match with a view to compiling a report and recommendations on how to try and fix the problems.

Mark Nicholls of the Rabbitohs is tackled Source: AAP

In his new full-time role, Barker will liaise with the NRL’s Match Review Committee with a view to cleaning up a variety of issues in and around the ruck area.

The wrestle and the grapple are clearly one of the target areas.

Some of the new beefed-up Match Review Committee punishments the Rabbitohs recommended to the NRL also included:

*Reckless high tackles to be referred straight to the judiciary

*Players to be hit with a minimum two week suspension if found guilty of grade one dangerous contact with the head/neck

*Players to be hit with a minimum three week suspension if found guilty of grade two dangerous contact with the head/neck

*Players to be referred directly to the judiciary if charged with a grade three dangerous contact head/neck charge