'Eye for an eye': Calls grow for 'blanket' hip-drop bans after Mitch Kenny, Ryan Couchman incidents

The sanctions surrounding hip-drop tackles have become an issue for the NRL once again, with calls growing for "blanket" suspensions across the game.

Dragons forward Ryan Couchman was last week slapped with a four-game ban for a tackle that resulted in Eels star J'maine Hopgood rupturing his ACL.

Couchman - who spent almost the entire 2025 season out with the same injury - had a clean record, but was referred straight to the judiciary.

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The local junior pleaded guilty and will now be rubbed out until Anzac Day.

Less than a week later, Panthers hooker Mitch Kenny was charged for a similar tackle that ironically injured another Eels player, Isaiah Iongi.

Parramatta's star fullback suffered a syndesmosis injury and is expected to miss two months, but Kenny was only suspended for one match.

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Ivan Cleary was left frustrated by the sin bin after his side's win but despite the stance from coach, Penrith opted not to challenge Kenny's charge at the judiciary.

"No, not this week … it's almost unfightable," Cleary said.

"It actually isn't a hip-drop, it's dangerous contact. What once was a hip-drop is now dangerous contact, that's been brought into that context.

"It's just an eye for an eye - Izzy got injured, Mitch landed on the back of his leg."

Kenny also has prior history of hip-drop tackles, copping a two-game ban last year for a tackle that left Roosters forward Nat Butcher on the sidelines for an extended period.

The discrepancy in sanctions for Kenny and Couchman could potentially come down to the outcomes in each tackle - Iongi will miss two months, but Hopgood is out for the season - while others this year that didn't result in injury have gone unpunished.

Roosters great Bryan Fletcher believes there needs to be a clearer black and white rule when it comes to hip-drop suspensions to avoid similar circumstances.

"Players don't mean it," he said on SEN's The Run Home.

"Couchman got four weeks and the Mitch Kenny one is just [as bad], if not worse.

"You had a precedent and you can't use 'the injury has something to do with it'. I'm hoping they didn't take that into consideration, but the Mitch Kenny [tackle] is exactly the same as Couchman's and you've got to call it as you see it.

"I'm just talking purely about the suspension, I feel so sorry for young Couchman. Neither player means it, it's gotta be a blanket [rule]." 

Kenny will miss the Panthers' round five showdown against the Melbourne Storm.