Brad Fittler has slammed the NRL for failing to stamp out "nasty" play much earlier, highlighting notorious forward Josh McGuire's "flippant" attitude towards the matter even in the midst of a crackdown.
Dragons enforcer McGuire copped a five-match ban for a hip-drop tackle on Storm winger Josh Addo-Carr last weekend. He tackled the Test flyer from behind and dropped his body downwards in a way that painfully buckled Addo-Carr's legs.
"Watching Josh McGuire before the game get interviewed, he was a little bit flippant about the new rules and how they were going; he'd now have to tackle around the shoelaces and all this sort of stuff," Fittler said on Wide World of Sports' Freddy and the Eighth.
"He actually got suspended and should have got [sanctioned] twice. He got sin-binned once [for a high tackle] and should have got sin-binned again for the hip drop.
"It's a shame 15 years ago, when these tackles started, whether it was a chicken wing or a neck thing … you wonder what the referees [and NRL] were thinking at the time, why they just didn't go, 'You know what, that's against the spirit of the game. Let's give him five weeks and stop that right now'.
"Why didn't they do that 15 years ago? Then they just allowed it to brew and brew, and then they tried to put rules around it. Please.
"It's taken them 15, 20 years to get this nastiness out of the game and it's come to hip-drops. Hip-drops are pretty much the last one, where they've worked out a way to get them from behind. Most of the other ones are from the front and trying to turn, this one's actually from behind, which is even worse.
"It's out of the game, it just has to be."
Cynical tackling techniques have coincided with the use of wrestling coaches by NRL teams, with the aim of slowing down play while defending. The NRL is currently focused on eliminating head contact but McGuire's hefty ban showed that a dim view is being taken on all illegal techniques.
Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns has long railed against dangerous contact on general-play kickers – "I hate it, it's just a cheap shot" – and also slammed players attacking the legs of ball-runners being held upright in tackles.
Raiders star Jack Wighton copped a one-game ban for hitting Bulldogs forward Adam Elliott with a cannonball tackle on the weekend, crashing into his knee. Wighton was sin-binned for the tackle.
"The Jack Wighton one, they can't see them coming and someone's going to do their cruciate; could finish their career," Johns said.
Johns said that players would struggle to avoid illegal contact in certain situations. Broncos halfback Tyson Gamble was sin-binned for a relatively minor high tackle on Manly winger Reuben Garrick, clipping his chin while trying to stop a try.
"That's where it's going to be in trouble because when you're in desperation and you're trying to stop a try, your technique goes out the window, you just throw anything and everything at them," Johns said.
"That's one where it's going to be difficult for players, when you're defending your line."
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