It cannot be allowed to go on anymore. And no, this is nothing to do with Sonny Bill Williams. On one issue in the game, I find myself actually agreeing with Phil Gould: the NRL’s stripping rules need to be overhauled.
The current interpretations of these rules are anyone’s guess. Having eight different referees and video referees every week, with differing viewpoints on what a strip is, certainly can’t be helping.
But that can’t be helped because of the rules themselves.
It’s at the point where defenders are getting penalised by some of these video refs when they have accidentally knocked the ball out in the tackle. That is farcical.
The policing of the stripping rules has disintegrated into a confusing mess for not just officials, but fans, players, and coaches.
It’s a no-win situation when defending players are penalised if their hands are in contact with the ball at the moment when the opponent loses control. But if they don’t wrap up the ball, the attacking player can offload.
Who came up with this ridiculous rule anyway?
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It was unwelcome to start with and now the grey area keeps widening.
The simple solution is to abolish the current stripping laws and put the onus back on the attacking player in the tackle. There is no reason why players shouldn’t be allowed to rake the ball in the tackle, whether there be one or five tacklers.
In the ruck (after the tackle is completed) ‘held’ is called, and when the player is in the act of playing the ball, then there could be a strict hands-off policy on the defenders.
This would not only ease confusion for players and referees, but it would help to clean up the ruck area.
Teams would still need wrestling coaches unfortunately as the time a defender is allowed in the tackle is dependent upon whether the tackle is ‘dominant’ or a ‘surrender’. The time allowed by these calls should not be permitted to extend after the ‘held’ call, as happens at present.
In the tackle, it’s game on.
The tackled player must protect the football and the defenders are given the appropriate amount of time to work the tackled player.
When ‘held’ is called, all hands, feet, and torsos need to be out of the play the ball area immediately (I’m pretty sure that was the original intention of the ‘held’ call).
This would also see an end to the overly harsh penalties against players not getting to their feet properly to play the ball when they have a defender all over them.
The lawmakers of the NRL need to bite the bullet on this for the betterment of rugby league, or, if for nothing else, then for the sake of common sense.
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Captain Carnage
Guest
I was attributed a bogus title by the publishers. My argument is you SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO STRIP THE BALL IN THE ACT OF THE TACKLE. I don't want stripping banned but rather the current stripping laws. I believe that bringing the strip back will add to the entertainment. But I don't think it should be allowed in the play the ball. It will just lead to more confusion (and subsequently more penalties) and that is the last thing the game needs. This rubbish that you can only strip it in one on one tackles has done nothing for the game, it's only made it far more confusing. And yes, I was watching a replay of the '75 GF today and was thrilled with the scrums. What is the point having scrums today? I've no idea. Watching that old GF, it's essentiallty the same game but far less opportunities today, unless, like you said, there's a piece of individual brilliance or team brilliance. Kind of sad really, just hope the NRL do something about it.
LeftArmSpinner
Guest
el capitan, go further. bring league into the real world and allow more contest for possession. The scrum, mthe play the ball and the tackle. the stripping rule as resulted in less hand offs than more. the game has become dull, predictable and artificial. Sure the physical contest is still there, but only just for most games. The bigger games are more physical. here's how you play league, get the ball, run, get tackled by three guys. Get up play the ball to a dummie half who passes it to a one off runner. Repeat this until the fifth tackle then kick it. On some occasions, pass it twice on the penultimate tackle. 80% of the game is now like this. A penalty invariably results in a try because of the massive field position advantage. Last night, this type of play resulted in mistakes (Going down blind side and being tackled over side line or dropped ball) when the players attempted to break out of the strict pattern. Even when they go to an extra pass, it is no more than a dummy outside and a predictable inside pass. Sure there is still the individual brilliance of an Inglis or Lockyer, but the rest is very very predictable and not very entertaining. I switched on the Manly Storm game with some excitement. Up and down the field they went, frenetically but predictably. A switch went off in my head. This was boring. I switched off, and watched Dance! I kept the radio on because I love Wock and the boys on the ABC, no matter what they are commentating on. The Humour, the experience and the personalities, but not the game. I came back for the Balmain Dragons game for a few minutes. I knew the result and so switched off.
Captain Carnage
Guest
Exactly. I couldn't give a flying f@#k about Sonny Bill.
JB
Guest
Sterlo hit the nail on the head with regards to the direction of the game, it is more important to ensure that the game - an entertainment product - is the best it can be rather than the offfield dramas.