{"id":819832,"date":"2026-07-24T01:16:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T01:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/819832\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T01:16:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T01:16:21","slug":"nrl-news-2026-andrew-johns-confused-by-latu-fainu-suspension-tackling-technique-pattern-emerges-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/819832\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Andrew Johns confused by Latu Fainu suspension, tackling technique pattern emerges, reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Johns<\/a> knows the game of rugby league like the back of his hand, but even he can\u2019t wrap his head around Latu Fainu\u2019s tackling technique.<\/p>\n

Fainu copped a three-game suspension<\/a> this week for a dangerous tackle on Leo Thompson, where he dived in at the Bulldog<\/a>s prop\u2019s legs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Leo Thompson flips on to his head after the tackle by Latu Fainu.\u00a0Fox League<\/p>\n

The tackle was described as a \u201cgrass-cut\u201d as Fainu went low and flipped Thompson over, leading to debate on Nine\u2019s Sunday Footy Show.<\/p>\n

Johns defended the Wests Tigers<\/a> utility and couldn\u2019t believe it was penalised, but both Brad Fittler<\/a> and Billy Slater<\/a> thought it was dangerous.<\/p>\n

However, as revealed on Wide World Of Sports\u2019 Immortal Behaviour<\/a>, the 21-year-old has been performing similar tackles throughout the season.<\/p>\n

The issue was raised to Johns by an unnamed NRL coach, who believes it has been a series of deliberate acts from Fainu.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a message off a coach saying that this has been going on for a while and I didn\u2019t realise, but looking at that, I still don\u2019t know if it\u2019s illegal,\u201d Johns said on Immortal Behaviour.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s tackling, but he\u2019s not wrapping his arms. He\u2019s getting himself into a really awkward position, where he will get a knee in the head soon. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t know what he\u2019s trying to do – his head goes between the legs, but for mine, that isn\u2019t illegal. I really don\u2019t know, but it\u2019s deliberate. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an odd one, I\u2019ve never seen it in rugby league before. I still don\u2019t know how he got suspended. I suppose it\u2019s dangerous, but is it illegal? I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johns also feels that the match review committee must have been aware of the tackles from Fainu throughout the season, prior to him being charged.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe referees and judiciary must have been across this, whether they had information from the coaches,\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cLike I said, one of the coaches said that he\u2019s been doing it and it\u2019s a deliberate action, diving at the knees, but it\u2019s not a shoulder charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SYDNEY,<\/p>\n

Latu Fainu in action for the Tigers.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Fainu will miss the Tigers\u2019 next three games including Saturday\u2019s clash against the Canberra Raiders<\/a>, which is a must-win to keep their slim finals hopes alive.<\/p>\n

Adam Doueihi will also be missing after walking out of training following a heated argument with coach Benji Marshall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It comes as the club prepares to part ways with co-captain Jarome Luai<\/a> at the end of this season for a move to cross-town rivals Parramatta<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew Johns knows the game of rugby league like the back of his hand, but even he can\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-819832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}