EXCLUSIVE: Billy Slater admits 'over-policed' NRL crackdown ended before Sunday's games
Billy Slater believes the NRL finished their head-high crackdown early after a number of incidents didn't result in sin bins during Sunday's match.
Throughout Manly's clash with the Storm, not a single player was binned despite Corey Waddell being put on report for collecting Tyran Wishart across the face. Waddell was then given a two-match ban.
Adam Elliott and Jacob Preston were also fined for high shots in the Knights and Bulldogs clash. Neither player was sin binned.
READ MORE: Bunnies injury crisis forces Latrell into another switch
READ MORE: F1 driver whacked with eye-watering fine for anthem mishap
READ MORE: 'Need someone like me': Gracie's grim Supercars prediction
Corey Waddell's hit on Tyran Wishart went unpunished on Sunday. Nine
In the lead-up to Sunday, Hudson Young, Reece Robson, Izack Tago, Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, Ray Stone and Brendan Piakura were all sent for 10 for high shots.
The decisions came after the NRL admitted officials had been wrong to not sin bin players the round before.
Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and 9Now.
Speaking on Nine's Billy Slater Podcast, the league legend argued the decisions on Sunday were on par with what occurred earlier in the round.
"It must've been mini because it finished on Sunday," he said.
"There were plenty of high contacts on Sunday that were dealt with the way I thought they should be dealt with. If it's a penalty, it's a penalty. If it's on report, it's on report, if it's really severe, go to the sin bin, I get that.
"There was no sin bins yesterday in both games, there was the occasional high contact, which was dealt with appropriately so hopefully we've found that middle ground.
"At the start of the weekend, it was a little bit over-policed, which is what the NRL are trying to do given there was four incidents the week before that were under-policed."
While the officials have come under pressure to decipher what is a sin bin-worthy offence, Slater was sympathetic to their role.
"I really feel for the officials on the field," he said.
"They've got a job to manage the game but we're also giving them the job to be match review committee on the run and it's too hard for them and I feel they've got it right on Sunday, hopefully we can continue with that."
