Sterling said that ongoing concussion issues were very much at the forefront of conversations, and rightfully so – but that he was worried that referees were starting to become too eager to cite players.<\/p>\n
![\"NRL](\"https:\/\/vms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/2021\/04\/355136\/pickerImage.jpg\")
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"I think our officials are starting to get a little bit trigger happy," he said, making reference to an incident in the final game of the round which saw Josh Curran sin binned for the Warriors.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old was sent to the bin for his contact on Storm winger George Jennings, who was taken from the field and eventually failed a head injury assessment.<\/p>\n
"I look at that and I don't see anything illegal, I don't see anything wrong in that at all," Sterling said.<\/p>\n
"Our game is a game of collisions – and once we start, and I don't like the word, but if we start to sanitise the collisions in our game, we take away what makes us the most demanding, confronting, aggressive sport that there is – and that's the greatest attraction."<\/p>\n
Sterling said the decision to send Curran from the field for ten minutes all but ended the match as a contest.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With Curran off the field, the Storm extended their lead and scored another try as he was returning to the action. Melbourne would win comfortably in the end, 42-20.<\/a><\/p>\n "You give the Melbourne Storm 10\/12 points and a 12-man defensive line, I don't think any team is going to Melbourne and going to win. So I think effectively the Warriors were out of that game at that moment."<\/p>\n Sterling said that there had been no malice or intent in Curran's actions, and that incidental contact had to be factored into decision-making by referees and the judiciary.<\/p>\n Curran will miss one week with an early guilty plea<\/a>.<\/p>\n "We are going to get players hurt accidentally, and that's our game," Sterling said.<\/p>\n "I just think we've got to be really careful here in regards to the conversation around the game at the moment, and the action from officials that is being taken."<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"