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Souths vs Manly last Friday was as bruising and intense a battle as you will have seen in a regular season fixture.
There was an extraordinary atmosphere at the ground, a near capacity crowd of real league people, Manly fans baying for blood, the burrow in full flight and two teams made up of some of the most willing players you will ever see.
Both teams were awesome in their strength and endurance.
In a match that had it all, most of the post-match commentary has centred on whether Richie Fa’aoso should have received marching orders for his spear tackles on Greg Inglis.
On one side of the divide there are those who are adamant the referee should have dismissed the offending player.
On the other side we have heard many rationalisations, including that Inglis dives once his legs are caught, he stands in the tackle with his legs parted and that as a result defenders only get one leg.
We also have heard the ridiculous theory that Inglis’ running and ball carrying style predisposes him to spear tackles.
The referees sit on the fence with the ultimate fence-sitting tool at their disposal – the ‘on report’ call.
This enables them to recognise foul play but avoid controversy and maintain balance in the game.
This is not an article criticising referees, it is completely understandable they would be extremely hesitant to send a player off.
But consider that in awarding a try the referee can refer a decision to a video ref, who can scrutinise events to confirm or deny the refs call.
For a referee to send off a player they should at least have the same level of support.
How can we expect them to make a decision like this in a split second? We at home watch several replays before becoming adamant it is a send off.
Back to Manly vs Souths, in such an intriguing contest would it have been a good result to have Fa’aoso sent off with plenty of time still remaining in the contest?
That decision would have certainly killed off the contest with Manly on the ropes and would have been a very disappointing end to a game that enjoyed an outstanding build up in the two weeks before and had lived up to the hype.
A send off would have robbed fans of a proper conclusion to what was a fantastic contest and, in all likelihood, a finals preview.
In saying this, Fa’aoso definitely should have been sent off.
A solution the NRL should consider is allowing replacement of a player who is sent off.
In the modern game losing a player off the forward rotation is a huge disadvantage. If it was a back it would cause a reshuffle of the team. This would add intrigue to a contest rather than bursting it like a balloon with a send off.
It’s fair compensation to the aggrieved team.
Unless a team was well in front, it’s extremely unlikely they could win with only 12 on the field. Manly with 12 would have been no chance, fans would have started heading for the exit.
Replacement of send offs would also help referres to be be more decisive as they can take the necessary action while keeping the game alive, it’s part of the solution along with a card system for foul play and professional fouls and video ref to support send off decisions.
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