Mitch Moses has doubled down on Parramatta coach Jason Ryles' warning that the speed of the NRL will lead to more players being injured by hip-drop tackles from tired defenders.
Days after the Eels lost a second player to a long-term injury from the illegal tackle, Moses maintained the speed of the game was to blame for the situation.
The Parramatta captain also claimed he did not understand how the match review committee was ruling on hip-drop tackles, after Penrith's Mitch Kenny escaped with a one-game ban for the contact that injured Eels fullback Isaiah Iongi.
Iongi is expected to miss eight weeks with a high-grade syndesmosis injury, while lock J'maine Hopgood's season is over after his ACL was ruptured in a hip-drop tackle from St George Illawarra's Ryan Couchman.
"If you want to keep quickening up the game and making it lightning fast and having these one-man tackles, two-man tackles, it's what is going to happen," Moses said.
"Obviously it's an illegal move but you can't really stop it in today's game. Those things are going to happen at full pace, fast, people getting dragged down."
Moses' comments come after Ryles said similar after Hopgood's injury last month.
The players' union has previously drawn links between the speed of the game and foul play in 2021, when set restarts were first implemented for offsides as well as ruck infringements across the entire field.
One month into this season there has been a 57 per cent increase in set restarts compared to the same period last year, with one now awarded every 30 tackles.
Moses believes that hip-drop tackles, and the resulting injuries, are a natural by-product of the NRL's new refereeing initiatives.
"People don't go out there to intentionally go and hip drop this bloke and do his ankle," Moses said.
"You can't stop it. The way the game is, it's really fast and lightning quick.
"That's how the NRL want it to be, that's how the fans want it to be. You want it to be lightning quick. These things are going to happen.
"Injuries are going to happen from these tackles. You're not going to be able to stop it unless you slow down the game."
Moses does believe Parramatta are better prepared for their depth being tested this year, with Joash Papali'i and Jack de Belin coming in.
But the halfback indicated he was also perplexed by variation in bans for hip drops.
Couchman received a four-match ban for his tackle on Hopgood, while Penrith's Kenny will only have to miss one week for his tackle on Isaiah Iongi.
Asked if it made sense to him, Moses responded: "I don't think it does, no".
"I don't know how they rule it," he continued.
"I don't know what their thought is around a hip drop, it hasn't really been clear."
