It is absolutely rubbish that no one plays the ball on the mark. I have noticed it creeping in for a while, but last night Penrith made at least 10-15 meters most sets of six.
The referee calls “you shortened it”. All well and good, but most of the time it takes out the markers. They are either offside due to not being square, due to the player playing the ball being three metres past where he got tackled, or the player playing the ball is holding onto the marker.
Either way it needs to be stopped. It is either a penalty for not playing it on the mark or it is a penalty for obstruction.
The commentators were saying that the Dragons were being beaten at the ruck (and the Panthers were the better team), but one of the main reasons being two men taken out most tackles due to moving forward off the mark play.
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