'Too long': Andrew Johns issues plea to change sin bins and head injury assessment protocols

A series of sin bins over the Easter weekend has prompted league great Andrew Johns to call for the NRL to consider making a key change to the ruling.

Four players were given marching orders over the course of round five, but it was the temporary exits of Savelio Tamale for Raiders and Luke Laulilii for the Wests Tigers that did not sit well with Johns.

Tamale was sent to the sin bin after holding onto the arm of Dom Young in what ultimately denied the Knights star a chance to score a try. Laulilii, on the other hand, was binned for dangerous contact in air that resulted in injury.

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In the absence of both stars, the Raiders and Tigers conceded points as their opposition took advantage.

But it is the length of time players spend in the sin bin that Johns disagrees with.

"I think 10 minutes nowadays is too long," he said on Nine's Freddy and the Eighth.

"The sin binning has a huge effect on the game.

"Any hit to the head that isn't a send off, I have no problem with 10 minutes (in the sin bin), but I just think a professional foul now is five minutes."

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Brad Fittler and Johns both agreed aspects of the plays that sent Tamale and Laulilii to the sin bin clearly indicate that their actions were not done with the intention to harm.

Both questioned what the referees expect players to do in such situations.

"If you go up for a bomb (like Laulilii did) and you don't get it, your natural instinct is to grab hold of something. It is not intentional," Johns continued.

Fittler added: "I didn't think that was a sin bin, I thought that was horribly unlucky.

"He went up to compete for the ball, the Parramatta player (Bailey Simonsson) got inside him in a better position ... his hands just wrapped around him. What are you supposed to do?

"I don't think he did anything to worsen the position of the Parramatta player."

While the sin bins were his biggest concern, Johns then revealed that he feels a crackdown on head injury assessments should also be considered.

"We always laugh at the soccer players and how dramatic they are," he began.

"But if you lay down, you should be straight off for a HIA.

"You've got to go off. If you get hit in the head and lay down longer than five seconds, straight away, you gotta go off."