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NRL flies the white flag on wrestling

Roar Guru
2nd September, 2014
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The referees were left with tough questions to answer following the Storm's win over the Broncos on Friday night. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Colin Whelan)
Roar Guru
2nd September, 2014
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1541 Reads

It’s a been a while since I’ve penned an article on The Roar. I’m actually writing this from an NRL bunker, as I recently escaped from prison.

What possessed me to escape, you ask? Well, they wouldn’t give me writing material in the clink and having just read NRL head of football Todd Greenberg’s comments on dealing with the wrestle, I decided to take a risk in order to respond.

Greenberg has all but conceded victory to NRL coaches on the wrestling issue. His response to a question about the wrestle’s future in our game and the possibility of it being eradicated was not encouraging.

“That’s probably a question more for coaches, on how they play … it’s a fine balance for us getting the game right and not changing the fabric of it,” he said.

No, Todd. It’s a question for you. It’s a question for those vested with the power to stamp out any act on the field that hurts the game. And regarding the “fabric”, it has already been changed for the worse.

So Todd and his lads at NRL central need to play catch up. The horse has bolted. Someone’s going to have to chase it down, lasso it and put it back in the stable, to overwork the metaphor.

Before this article presents an easy solution, let’s focus on some positives. The game, when it’s allowed to flow, is fantastic. Anyone who watched Manly versus Penrith or Broncos versus Dragons can see that. The nonsense of the video ref and time wasting aside, wrestling is the only fundamental problem on the field.

How do we solve it? The answer is exasperatingly easy.

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Todd Greenberg may not be aware of this, but every time a player is tackled, the referee issues a statement. One word, one syllable (maybe that’s why the NRL keeps missing it).

The word is ‘held’. Todd, that means the referee is telling the defenders to cease their efforts to contain the ball carrier and release him so that he can play the ball.

This is the nexus of the problem, the focal point where the NRL can change the game. How often do defenders actually begin to release when the referee calls held? Almost never.

Instead, they continue to grapple if the player is standing up (often throwing him on the ground to further delay procession of the play) and flatten him if he’s prostrate on the turf. They do this banking on the knowledge that the NRL and referees are frightened of blowing too many penalties.

The players will claim they can’t always hear the referee’s call. While I think this is probably baloney, it would be rendered moot by the pocket ref calling it every tackle.

And this is where the NRL steps in. In the new game, the refs would penalise the defenders if they do not immediately show signs of releasing.

Would this result in a glut of penalties in the short term? Yep. But, as with the punching ban, players would quickly adjust because they like to win games and, as we’ve seen repeatedly this year, the penalty is often the swing point in close matches.

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This is the only solution. Penalise the crap out of them if they dawdle for even one second – because it is during that one second that the grapple begins. There is no need for potential new fans of our game – not to mention current ones – to see a ball carrier spread-eagled on the ground with someone lying on top of him. Ever.

Todd Greenberg and the NRL need only ask themselves two simple questions.

Which master do they want to serve? The brilliant attackers in our game or the wrestlers? And which kind of game do they want to offer on a regular basis to fans? Souths versus Canterbury from Thursday night or Broncos versus Dragons the night after?

The answer is simple. Release or go home.

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