Graham Annesley has revealed over 50 incidents of attackers making contact with a raised forearm or elbow on a defender have been reviewed by the NRL's match review committee this season.
The NRL's head of football, during his footy briefing on Monday, went into detail about the concerning trend, which saw Brisbane Broncos' winger Selwyn Cobbo sin-binned over the weekend.
Admitting that the act of play is a concern for the NRL and is trending the wrong way, he revealed that along with the seven charges dished out from the match review committee, another seven have seen notices sent to clubs over their closeness to a charge, and 53 incidents in total have been reviewed over the first 20 rounds of the season.
"What we have seen developing over the course of the year is a lot more incidents where players are lifting and extending," Annesley said during his briefing.
"They may not be extending with force, but they are lifting their arm to a point where it becomes possible that the arm will then make contact with the head or neck of an opposing player.
"We have seen so far this year seven charges [from the match review committee] for this type of offence, seven concerning acts go to clubs [a note that goes to club after the match review committee reviews a match and determines an incident was close to a charge] and there have been 53 incidents reviewed by the match review committee for a possible charge."
Annesley said he wants to see action taken by coaches and players over the issue, with players regularly risking penalties or worse on-field with the act of play.
"It's no secret that the game has a view about contact with the head and neck and has for a number of years. We have a very strong position on defenders making contact with the head or neck of ball carriers.
"But we are starting to see more of this happening with the ball carrier.
"Force becomes an issue, but by virtue of lifting and raising it forward, that places the player in possession at risk of the contact going wrong, and if there is contact with the head or neck of a defender, and the match review committee or referee on the field believe it's a dangerous act with any degree of force in it whatsoever, then that player risks a penalty, being placed on report, a sin bin, being dismissed from the field or a charge from the match review committee.
"The reason I'm placing it on the public record today is because we want it addressed."
Annesley couldn't be drawn for specific comment on the Cobbo incident but didn't explicitly disagree with the referee's decision on the day.
