Any suspensions

[bondi paul]

Smith like Foketi had no priors and was suspended so Billy likely cop the same. So no direct contact above the shoulder rule but it’s ok for the attacking player to fend a defender in the gob.

[roosterproud]

Funny thing is there is no rule inplace to protect a defender getting hit high. Except the fender to the nech head.
if the tacklers drop their tackle height lower there will be more concussed defenders

[The Lip]

I haven’t seen it again - is there any grounds for Billy to contest?

[mightyrooster]

I haven’t seen it again - is there any grounds for Billy to contest?

After what happened to Foketi it would be too risky. He’ll end up copping 2 weeks.

[Carlos Parra]

Funny thing is there is no rule inplace to protect a defender getting hit high. Except the fender to the nech head.
if the tacklers drop their tackle height lower there will be more concussed defenders

And that's why the rule needs to be looked at, and overhauled if necessary.

For some bizarre reason, it's perfectly ok for a defender to get smashed in the head by the ball carrier, but not the other way around.

If safety is paramount, why has this issue not been considered?

[MKCS]

I think the NRL is very suspension happy, not just for our club but all other clubs as well. I'm not an NFL expert but my understanding of that sport is that players are rarely missing games for anything outside of injury, if you look at soccer it is five yellow cards (Our equivalent of the sin bin I guess) before a player is suspended for a game, of course in a soccer a red card leads to the suspension but it's rare in the NRL that players are being sent off, there should be no automatic suspension unless there is a send off.

This week alone the league has 5 players being suspended for at least a game, it seems unnecessarily high especially when TV stations, fans etc want to see star players actually play.