England international and current South Sydney Rabbitohs star Tom Burgess has his season on the line after the NRL judiciary has handed him a three match suspension for what many have labelled a ‘soft’ sin binning.
The incident occurred in yesterday morning’s match between Burgess’ Bunnies and Cronulla Sharks with the England man being sent his marching orders with just four minutes remaining on the clock.
With the Rabbitohs trailing Burgess jumped out of the line early and lined up a shot on the Cronulla ball carrier, making contact high around the chest and showing what looked to be a legitimate attempt to wrap his arms.
The whistle went up and Burgess likely expected he’d been hit for offside but to his and the wider rugby league world’s surprise, he was shown yellow for the high shot.
The situation has now worsened with Burgess being handed a Grade Two charge of a careless high tackle, but given the Englishman’s former record that carries a three game penalty.
There’s only three games of the regular season left and with the Rabbitohs playoff hopes hanging by a thread, sitting in eighth spot level on points with ninth and tenth whilst eleventh and twelfth are within touching distance with a game in hand, it begs the question do Souths contest the charge.
Should they do so and fail then an extra game would get tacked on meaning that if they do make the playoffs then they’d be without Burgess, but is it a risk worth taking?
Legendary coach Mal Meninga questioned the decision at the time whilst working for Fox League on comms.
“I think the Burgess incident was a bit harsh,” Meninga said.
“What is wrong with being aggressive? What is wrong with getting off the line and getting in with intent? I’m not quite sure.”
You can see the incident in the attached tweet below, along with some of the reactions from social media.
Let’s just get it over with and make it touch football…
10 in the bin for this 🤡🤡🤡#NRLRabbitohsSharks pic.twitter.com/dF63k4gmoq— Rugby League Best Tries Hits and Biffs (@NBiffs) August 5, 2023
Others also couldn’t believe the decision.
Tom Burgess sent to the bin for a great tackle.
— Josh Kemp (@Kemparelli) August 5, 2023
Renowned journalist The Mole joked that Burgess had tackled “too hard”.
Penalty Sharks and sin bin – Burgess tackle too hard!!!
— The Mole (@9_Moley) August 5, 2023
