Gorden Tallis: Cannonball madness must end THE best way to judge whether something is acceptable in rugby league is to gauge the reaction of the players when it happens to them in the heat of the moment. Things like shoulder charges and fighting, we've seen and heard from the players that it is not a big deal to them and they saw no reason for the rules to change. But the cannonball tackle is a completely different story. The players do not like it at all. They are blowing up about the third man diving in at the legs. They hate it getting done to them and they fear it is going to wreck someone's career. We all agree that having two men hold up the ball carrier for a third man to come diving in at the legs is extremely dangerous. You only had to see Corey Parker's reaction against Melbourne the other night after Bryan Norrie's cannonball tackle to understand just how strongly the players feel about it. Not every player in every team does it and there are only the odd few who step over that line of sportsmanship. But from my point of view we have to change the rules to get this out of the game. The match review panel did not charge Norrie for his tackle because tackling around the legs has been in the game for over 100 years. It is what I teach my kids to do. The rules are not black and white enough for the match review panel to hand out charges. You can't judge someone on how hard they tackle, just the same as you can't get suspended because you punch harder than someone else. You should get done for the crime, not the result. The only way they can put an end to this is to put a stop to third man in tackles. Make a blanket rule, if you're third man in you need to tackle above the shorts. You cannot touch the legs. If three men can't wrestle one man to the ground they don't deserve the advantage of a slow play the ball anyway. As a game why do we have to wait until there is a really bad injury where someone is out for six or 18 months before we bite the bullet and take action? The players are just playing to the rules that exist in the game today so if the rules are not strong enough to rid the game of the cannonball, then we have to change the rules just like we did for the shoulder charge. AS an ex Brisbane Broncos player nothing pains me more than seeing the club I love sitting in the bottom four on the NRL ladder. It is not acceptable and has never been acceptable. The Broncos are a side that is about playing grand finals, winning grand finals and for every year that I played at Brisbane unless you played in a grand final and won it you haven't had a successful season. I still believe Brisbane can make the finals this year. As I said on Triple M over the weekend, they've got a good run home and I support the club 100 per cent to get the job done. I read with interest Paul White's comments today about Griffin's future and it is good that he has put clarity around the situation to end all the speculation. Let's hope the Broncos turn everything around on Friday night against Cronulla and get their season back on track. But remember the longer something goes on the harder it is to fix. And from my experience, nothing is ever guaranteed in rugby league.