Sep 23rd, 2019

Sep 23rd, 2019

The NRL says consideration should be given to the re-introduction of five minutes in the sin bin for certain offences.

At the moment the referees have no option when sin binning a player, with 10 minutes off the field the only punishment available.

But head of football Graham Annesley admits that on occasions, five minutes may be a more suitable penalty.

"We used to have five minutes in the sin bin," Annesley said.

"Is there a case to say that maybe 10 minutes, for some incidents, is too harsh? There could be.

"We will of course review that at the end of the year with the competition committee."

The issue is back in the spotlight after Manly's Jake Trbojevic was sin-binned late in the second half of Friday's loss to Souths at ANZ Stadium, for holding back Dane Gagai as the Rabbitohs went on the attack.

Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler was furious with the call, that came with Manly leading 26-20. Souths scored twice in the ten minutes Trbojevic was off the field, setting up the 34-26 victory.

Annesley maintains the sin-binning was warranted for a professional foul in a try-scoring situation, and admits he's had "a number of conversations with Des" since the incident, with the pair still at odds over the fact that Trbojevic was given 10 minutes in the bin.

"Des does not agree that this should have been a sin-binning. He accepts that a penalty could have resulted from it, but that's his opinion, and he's absolutely entitled to it," Annesley said.

The option to send players to the bin for five minutes existed previously, but was removed more than 15 years ago amid criticism that it resulted in inconstant applications from the referees.

Daly Cherry-Evans looks on as Gerard Sutton sends Jake Trbojevic to the sin bin. (Getty)

Annesley pointed out that referees were under fire to explain why certain offences resulted in a five minute penalty, while other players guilty of a similar offence copped 10 minutes.

"There may be a case to re-introduce five minutes (in the bin) for some offences. But you'd have to define very closely what those offences are, so that again you don't get into this situation where there's more criticism of referees for being inconsistent with how they use the sin bin.

"We're happy to discuss that if that's a view, that for some of the more minor incidents, that five minutes might be a better outcome."

Annesley said any change to the sin-bin rules would need to be discussed by the clubs when the competition committee meets in November.

"Everything's on the table at the competition committee. Once we get through the grand final we'll start reaching out to clubs, getting their ideas about what they think we should be concentrating on," he said.

"I can see a case for it (five minutes in the bin). Even instances that go to the sin-bin, some are probably more serious than others, yet they all get 10 minutes.

"I can see that potentially there's an argument for that.

"I'm open to it. I agree that not everything is the same."