Newcastle Knights head coach Adam O'Brien has challenged the NRL over their high tackle crackdown, labelling the sport a 'hard game to play at the moment'.
Recent weeks have seen a crackdown on high contact from defenders, leading to an increase in sin bins.
That saw both Leo Thompson and Marata Niukore sent to the sin bin in the opening minutes of Friday night's game in Christchurch.
O'Brien said the NRL couldn't continue to speed the game up while also expecting accidents not to happen.
"I was concerned that was going to set a tone for the whole game. I haven't been across the other games whether it's across the round or whatever. I know that were a few incidents in the Bulldogs-Brisbane game," O'Brien said during his post-match press conference.
"It's a hard game for these boys to play at the moment. All our rule changes are around making the game faster and putting more fatigue in it, but then we are cracking down on accidents.
"Accidents are going to happen when the game is this fast and there is this much fatigue. We have made the rule changes and it's just hard for them to play at the moment.
"The one that we had last week with James Schiller trying to stop a try at full speed. He just brushes a chin and gets ten minutes. That's a bit unfair."
The coach said no one asks players to hit opposition players in the head, but that fatigue leads to incidents, and innocuous high shots shouldn't result in sin bins.
"None of us coach to do it. It's not part of the tip sheet to go out there and hit blokes in the head. You have to work hard at tackle technique, but the game is fast, there is a lot of fatigue in it and accidents are going to happen. I understand that you don't want to be hitting anyone in the head, but if you're getting sent to the bin all the time, it's bloody hard," he said.
"Some are just flat out unacceptable, but there is a lot of innocuous ones that are getting punished pretty hard."
Newcastle's Tyson Frizell said that while it doesn't change the way he plays the game, it does cause extra caution in tackling.
"It doesn't change the way you play, but you have to be cautious of going in a bit too aggressive and a bit carefree. That's what you want us to do as middle forwards, be aggressive, but you do need to watch how you go into contact.
"No one is going out there to hit someone high, but these things happen. Accidents do happen. All teams are in the same boat, so we just have to get on with it I guess."
