‘It’s a concern’: NRL players have paid more than $100,000 in fines after the first eight rounds of the season

Players are paying a high price for foul play this year, with fines through the opening eight rounds surpassing Australia’s average annual salary rate.

If Wests Tigers prop Fonua Pole accepts his $1000 fine for a high shot, then players will have paid $104,650 in fines less than a third of the way through the season, with that figure to rise by $1500 if Scott Sorensen is successful at the judiciary.

Players have also missed 51 matches through suspension this season, with that figure to rise by three if the Panthers edge forward fails to have his charge downgraded on Tuesday night.

Regardless of what happens at the judiciary, players will miss at least a combined 13 matches for offences stemming out of round 8 where there were 18 sin bins dished out by the officials.

That’s easily the most matches served out of one weekend in 2025, with players forced to pay at least $10,000 in fines in all but one round.

It’s well above last year’s figures when players had paid $86,850 in fines and copped 35 games in suspensions after eight rounds.

The eye-watering sums suggest that the perceived crackdown is somewhat justified given the match review committee has had to deal with a record number of cases this season.

“We’re the first to acknowledge that there have been some inconsistencies with how some of these matters have been dealt with,” NRL head of football Graham Annesley said, with 107 charges laid this season.

“The large majority have been justifiable because we’ve actually seen a pretty significant increase in high tackles this year.

“We’ve seen a 90 per cent increase in the number of high tackles being reviewed by the match review committee, we’ve seen a 95 per cent increase in the number of charges for head high tackles and a 71 per cent increase for high tackles.

“It is a concern for us that we’re seeing an increase in this type of tackle and a disturbing number of shoulder to the head types of tackles which can be quite serious.

“We’re not backing away from our existing and past policy of contact with the head and neck.”