Refs warn on sin bin

NRL referees boss Tony Archer has warned Melbourne and North Queensland his officials won’t be afraid to use the sin bin in the grand final.

No player has been sinbinned in a grand final since Terry Lamb in 1995.

There has been an increase to 46 uses of the 10minute penalty for professional fouls this year – compared with 17 in 2016.

Archer said referees Matt Cecchin and Gerard Sutton won’t change tack for Sunday’s clash at ANZ Stadium.

“I think we proved that in the first round of the semifinals (when Cronulla’s James Maloney and Melbourne’s Cameron Munster were both sin-binned),” Archer said.

“We set a stance and the competition committee and the game required us to be stronger on sin bins.

“We’ve been criticised in the past for not continuing to maintain those standards and we’ve done it in regards to sin-binnings and we expect to do that on Sunday.”

Maloney was sin-binned in the first week of the finals for taking out Cowboys’ kick chaser Ethan Lowe, while Munster’s came from a deliberate off-side against Parramatta after a quick tap.

Also of concern to NRL fans this season has been the increase in penalties given away within a team’s red zone, with the ploy commonly used as a tactic to reset their defensive line.

Cecchin vowed he wouldn’t be caught up in either team’s mind games if the topic of illegal defensive wrestling became a subject.