Former NRL playmaker Shaun Johnson has launched a scathing attack on the league’s current high tackle crackdown, calling the direction of officiating ‘stupid’ and accusing the NRL of ruining the game’s integrity.
Speaking on the Play On Sports Show podcast, the recently retired Kiwi star didn’t hold back. ‘I can actually say whatever I want now, so here we go,’ Johnson began, clearly frustrated by recent events.
‘I can appreciate the rules are in place to protect the players. At the end of the day, all they’re trying to do is protect the players, right? But they are so dumb. How far they’ve let this go, it’s stupid. Like proper stupidity.’
Johnson’s comments come amid growing backlash to the NRL’s approach to high contact penalties, which saw a record 18 players sin-binned in Round 8 of the 2025 season.
Accusations of inconsistency, overreach, and unnecessary intervention by the Bunker have created widespread debate across the rugby league world.
‘Accidents are a part of our sport. We play it knowing that,’ Johnson continued. ‘Now there is intent and there’s malice. So if someone comes across the top with a swinging arm of doom, or jumps off the ground and lifts an elbow, send them. Ten minutes at the bare minimum.’
Former NRL playmaker Shaun Johnson has blasted the NRL for sin-binning players who clipping opposition stars who were falling in tackles
The former New Zealand Warriors and Cronulla Sharks star wants to see common sense applied in the high shot crackdown
His main issue, however, was with what he saw as the unnecessary sin-binning of players who make incidental contact during legal tackles.
‘But if you’ve got somebody making a chopping tackle which lowers the person’s body height last minute, and you’ve got Kodi Nikorima, who doesn’t have a bad, aggressive bone in his body, clipping a chin, just through no movement, but just the head falling into the arm – common sense boys.’
‘Like seriously, you’re wrecking the product,’ Johnson said. ‘You’re taking a whole week’s prep away from a team, going on the road to try and achieve something together. Like, it’s actually so frustrating as a player, or ex-player.’
‘Imagine some of these boys that played in the ’80s. They must just be like going ‘f*** you soft.’ You’re making us lose street cred, some of these boys that we’ve looked up to.’
‘Pull your head in, seriously. NRL, take the finger out.’
‘Admit that, okay, we’ve gone too far with it. And just, look, you want to show malice and take someone’s head off, we’re going to charge you, sweet. We’re happy with that, right?’
Johnson’s passionate speech struck a chord with fans and even drew support from influential voices within the game.
Bulldogs boss and Nine commentator Phil Gould shared the clip on social media, adding simply: ‘There you go.’
The Manly Sea Eagles and Penrith Panthers clash was marred by multiple sin bins for high shots
South Sydney Rabbitohs star Latrell Mitchell was one of the players binned during Round 7
Roosters star Sandon Smith also copped time in the sin bin as the NRL cracks down on high shots
Gould, who has long voiced concerns about the direction of officiating, again criticised the disruptions caused by the recent crackdown.
‘There was probably three times as many penalties as well. They were very stop-start all weekend,’ Gould told Nine’s Today show. ‘I’m not sure what they are trying to achieve and whether they’ve achieved their objective.’
‘We have got Magic Round this weekend. I hope they get it all sorted out before we go and put the game on display to the entire world. It’s frustrating.’
The outrage follows a fiery broadcast from NRL legend Andrew Johns, who also slammed the league’s handling of high tackle penalties.
‘The breakdown of this sending players to the bin is absolutely farcical,’ Johns said on the Sunday Footy Show.
‘It’s gone beyond a joke. It is embarrassing. The over-analysis and the overreach of the bunker in play … the bunker should be used only for try-scoring opportunities unless it’s a send-off.’
‘If it’s an out-and-out send-off and they miss it, then fair enough – come in and send the player off.’
‘But going back eight plays in a set of six where the referee doesn’t see it, the touch judges don’t see it, the players don’t see it – and to send someone to the bin – is absolutely farcical.’
