Sensational V'landys reveal only adds to sin bin confusion as Wayne Bennett warns NRL is 'losing all credibility'

Veteran coach Wayne Bennett says the NRL is "losing all credibility" after the boss of the Australian Rugby League Commission sensationally claimed players should not be penalised for accidental high contact.

ARLC chairman Peter V'landys says "mistakes" made by on-field referees and Bunker officials over the past couple of weeks will be "corrected" for round nine, which sees all games in Brisbane for Magic Round.

The issue has been threatening to overshadow the game's showpiece regular-season event after league legends Andrew Johns and Phil Gould urged the NRL to recalibrate its stance on high contact after 18 players were sin-binned during round eight, many for high contact.

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It reached breaking point in the last game of the round when Tigers player Fonua Pole was binned several plays after seemingly innocuous contact on Cronulla's Tom Hazleton.

That incident forced Johns to vacate the Nine commentary box out of anger.

"He loves the game, he's very passionate, so you can't blame him," V'landys told Nine's Today on Friday when asked about Johns' criticism.

South Sydney coach Bennett on Friday revealed he took a proposal to league bosses earlier this year that the sin bin should only be used when an opposing player has been ruled a Category 1 concussion - ruling them out for the remainder of a game.

"The game is losing all credibility," Bennett said.

"You have eight different games every week and all those eight refs see things differently, which is human nature.

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"This issue will not go away. The NRL can't get this right until they make a change right now.

"The idea I have come up with – and I spoke to the NRL about it – it will take all that interpretation away and take the pressure off the referees.

"I don't think they should bring this proposal in next season – they should bring it in now.

"This is not a huge change. It's just a procedure change, not a rule change. There's no reason they can't bring it in for Magic Round this weekend, because what's going on right now is destroying the game."

The ARLC chief expects Magic Round to have a different complexion to round eight.

"Last week unfortunately they probably made a few mistakes, and they probably went too far over what we expect," V'landys said.

"That will be corrected this weekend.

"The referees have got the hardest job in the world, the pressure that is on them and the Bunker... we all make mistakes, they made a few last weekend.

"They should have allowed for mitigation, when the players were (falling) down (and got the hit in the head) they should have allowed for that, that shouldn't have been a sin bin.

"We will correct all that this weekend and hopefully get it 100 per cent right."

V'landys was asked to clarify exactly what should result in a 10-minute sin bin.

"The clarity is you don't hit someone in the head with force on purpose. If it's an accident, naturally we don't want to penalise the player," he said.

"If it is a genuine high tackle with force, they will go to the sin bin."

The comment is sure to be a talking point over the weekend given players rarely, if ever, intentionally hit an opponent in the head.

The V'landys reveal could potentially add to the confusion for officials and fans.

The pressure will be ramped up on match officials with the eyes of the sporting world focused on Suncorp Stadium.