NRL head of football Graham Annesley has hit back at suggestions the league failed to inform clubs of the game's plan to crack down on high tackles before the start of last week's Magic Round.
In all, 22 players were hit with a total of 24 charges out of the weekend's round of matches.
The game's chief executive Andrew Abdo said it was vital the NRL showed "responsible leadership" in its battle to reduce the number of players falling victim to high shots and dangerous tackles, especially around the head and neck area.
But the crackdown, led by the on-field referee to use the sin bin rule frequently for high tackle offences, wasn't to the liking of many, including Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett who claimed he only learned of the NRL's hard stance "by our football manager on the way to captain's run."
Responding to the criticism directed at the game, Annesley denied the NRL had failed to adequately inform clubs of the league's new direction for high and dangerous tackles.
"There's been some confusion, and I'm not sure why, but there's been confusion about how this all came about and how much notice clubs had to prepare before Magic Round," Annesley said today during his weekly football briefing.
"There were various reports that clubs were getting notified of this on their way to captains' runs and on game day. Nothing could be further from the truth.
"This goes back to the 5th of May, so 12 days ago. This (the email referenced in the screen shot above) was an email that went from me to all club chief executives, head coaches and football managers.
"Talking before Round Nine, it says: 'There will be little tolerance for any avoidable contact to the head or neck. Careless or reckless contact with any significant degree or force will be treated seriously through use of either the sin bin or send off if considered necessary based off the match official's assessment of the seriousness of the contact…
"Following on from that, at the same time, there was a press release that went out on the 5th of May.
"I'm not too sure where this perception is from that this was suddenly sprung on clubs by surprise.
"In addition to this, on Friday and Thursday, I personally gave briefings to our broadcast partners, our media partners and the print media so that everyone knew of the Commission's focus on this area."
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