The banning of the shoulder charge was a poor move by the National Rugby League. However, penalising Wests Tigers winger Marika Koroibete when he saved a certain try for a shoulder charge would have to be up there with one of the more farcical decisions in rugby league history.
Although plenty of questions remain on the quality of Ray Hadley as a TV commentator, he was spot on on this occasion.
He called it as ‘a great tackle, a try saver’.
All of which was correct.
The point is, Koroabete had no other option other than to through his shoulder into the tackle as Cowboys winger Ashley Graham looked certain to score.
What is the coach going to think if he gentle wraps his arms around him and let him score a try in the corner while giving his legs a nice little hug? If he does he might as well help him up and wish he all the best for the rest of the match.
Rugby league is not rugby union where banning the shoulder charge has had no great consequence on the game.
Where as the rah rah’s run a few metres from the back of a ruck before some overweight forward brings them down and they all jump all over each other again, league has proper collisions.
Sometimes in league, you need to brace yourself for a collision and use your shoulder and body to make the tackle.
Sometimes in league, as in this case, you need to use your body to save a try. To follow the leather patch brigade and ban the shoulder charge lacks a feel for the sport. It lacks common sense..
What should have happened is to ban contact with the head of the opposition. As simple as that. To penalise a player for making a great tackle lacks logic. As a matter of fact, its ridiculous and farcical. It needs to be changed.
Luke
Guest
this isnt* union
Luke
Guest
Yeah but if you put all the shoulder charges that have "not" caused injury's up against all the shoulder charges that have, it is just stupid to ban it. Lets face it this is union, so we should stop trying to make it, the shoulder charge and also fighting which is now being banned, is what made our game different, and what made people recognise rugby league as a impact and aggressive sport for the last 100 + years.
Gareth
Roar Pro
It's all down to probability. The rule isn't there to punish Marike Koroibete from making a brilliant try saver, it's there to deter Billy Slater from knocking Antonio Winterstein out cold with a far more average attempt. That said, why they couldn't just hand out effective punishments for shoulder charges gone wrong is beyond me.
planko
Guest
Please Oikee happy for you to post as we all need a laugh but don't "reply" as this does not address one thing I have said ? Shoulder charges rock btw and people go to Rugby League to watch the one man army Vs Tilse.
oikee
Guest
Can anybody tell me if the third man into a tackle is illigel? Can anybody tell me if the crusher tackle is illigel? Why do i ask, you ask, because when Jason Ryles got crusher tackled the other night, not one ref was going to blow the whistle, except Ryles stayed down and looked at them holding his neck. Now Ryles was not around when the Storm was doing crushers, so he was making a legitmate complant, and watching the replay he had his neck crushed. Then next tackle sonny Bill did the same tackle. again not a ref heard from. Third man in, i thought this was illigel, until we seen about 5 at the Mudgee game. Gus was complaining, i thought they were already illigel, but apparently not. This game really has no idea, and as Gus said, your legs are your tools of trade, without them you dont have a job, you cant work. yet our dinosaurs, our blind muppets cant see this, and these fowel acts of play continue to ruin our code. A billion dollar code now moving out the back door faster than Kodak. We had better get like Appale and make changes soon, or we wont have a code in a few years,. Open your eyes NRL, thousands upon thousands are staying away from this amatuer run code. NRL and common sense are on the oppisite sides of the planet, Amen.
oikee
Guest
Just being honest , hehe, they are backpackers. Would you hire them. ? hehe. These blow-ins are working for a buillion dollar code, they should be picking fruit at Gatton. hehe.
planko
Guest
Oikee nice work you have managed to make comments which are as usual very wordy and completely unrelated. I watched B Slater make a few comments on the Sunday football show. Due to my irrational hatred of Slater I would have normally gone to make another coffee however I listened to him. Something I am not counting on happening again for a while happened. I agreed with him. "the last thing on mind when running full speed to stop a try is technique" TRUE "the only people that have been suspended have hit people in the head" TRUE "I will risk a penalty to save a try" TRUE
oikee
Guest
You know they can fix this, so easy. One stroke of the pen. No more grounding of the ball with your torso. It is iligel. Thjat is all they have to do, then if the ball goes forward off your chest, it is always a knock forward or knock-on. Simple, yet this game cant see the simple side of things,. They allow angst, mayham, frustration and backpackers to look at replay, after replay, after replay. The crowds getting angrier, fans heading out the gates, steam rooms getting more popular because of the steam coming out of league fans ears. hehe. Fair dinkum, this game is flying that close to the edge, it might shut down by Xmas. Fans are walking, other codes dont operate like this, even bad rules dont get as much attention. The NRL rules are frustrating fans away, they are going, going, gone i tell ya. Could be easily fixed by one person with common sense. that is all it takes. I have not seen one yet in rugby league. Turn off the lights.
Beardan
Roar Guru
The 30 second rule is a farce. Just stop the clock. The shoulder charge rule is a joke. However, this constant calling video refs 'backpackers' gets funnier and funnier. Its dead set hilarious!
Beardan
Roar Guru
High quality whinging. Whinging is almost as boring as AFL.
oikee
Guest
The real problem is the fact they run in like a bull at the gate to change things without trailing them or even consulting anyone. Ask Toovey, he told them straight the other day, why change a rule halfway through the season. I agree,. The Shoulder charge is and has , lead to grey areas now. This needs to be looked at the end of the year, not in 3 years time, again, we all know that it takes 3 years for this codes leaders to react. They sit around, look at it, listen to complaints until they get louder, and louder, and finally boil over. Look, it happens every year, every time something blows up in their face. They dont want to admit they got it wrong so they let it drag the game down until we have lost another 10 thousand fans. This game is losing thousands and thousands of fans, if they bury their heads in the sand and refuse to believe this, i will keep throwing up crowd figures on perfect days, weekends, where fans are not turning up. I put the figures up above, i have not entered the Warriors(which was down drastically) or the Game tonite, Sharks. But i am sure 10 thousand or lower is the norm. The shoulder charge needs fixing, they need to define what a shoulder charge is, ?has anybody been shown, ? i haven't , i have no idea what a shoulder charge is now because as i said when they introduced the rule, every player uses his shoulders to tackle. A shoulder charge should only be penalised if he is in front of the player, and he goes higher than his chest. How can it be any different, you need to put your shoulder in to tackle. Anyhow, grey, very grey area that needs a porper diagram to show what is illigel, this has never been done. The 30 second rule for scrums and goal-line drop-outs, silly rule. No honest, stupid, all this will do is allow more players to get cramp and hold the game up. Paul Kent i think said to extend the time taken. I agree, give them 1 minute, we can flip to a ad with confidence, or nip to the loo. We know they only have 1 minute to kick the ball or pack the scrum. Again, this rule introduced without any knowleadge or thought out in, just rushed through like bulls at a gate. Amatuers, all of them, and the Torso rule is still giving grief, the refs have to keep calling knock-ons so the backpackers dont get their hands on 10 replays, looking, looking, looking then calling the wrong call anyhow and making a dogs breakfast out of toast and coffee.
Von Neumann
Roar Guru
i dont think losing the shoulder charge is a big deal. its overblown. I never considered it a necessity like some
oikee
Guest
Plus i added Goofy, that was in reference to Patton and his eyes. hehe.
Bulldog
Guest
Dragons Forever - you think you have it bad try being a Cowboys supporter. If I hear the term "rub of the green" one more time I think I will scream. Very bad rubbish possibly biased corrupt Video Ref decisions against them in both Tigers and South Sydney games... Both games in Sydney against very pro-Sydney teams that everyone Sydneysider wants to win. What do we get though is mass hysteria about one shoulder charge penalty....
solly
Guest
I agree with the shoulder charge. And I agree with simplifying the rule to ONLY contact with the head being punished. (adjusts netball skirt)
solly
Guest
Shall I order some for you too?
Beardan
Roar Guru
I didnt see the Dragons game but its hard to blame the refs when you cant score a point at home.
Beardan
Roar Guru
Exactly. Can you imagine a tackle that saved a grand final like this brilliant tackle was punished with a penalty to the opposition and they won the grand final on the next set of 6. It would be an absolute disgrace though it would almost serve the game right for having such a stupid rule in there in the first place.
Beardan
Roar Guru
I couldnt care less if the shoulder charge is in a coaches manual or not. What about when the King sent Daryl Williams into next week in that test match with that enormous shoulder charge. Its up there with the greatest tackles ever made. There was no way the player was trying to steal the ball. He threw his body at the Cowboys player. He wasnt concerned about the ball. That comment simply confirms you have no idea what you are talking about Ra.
solly
Guest
My comment against the use of the word Caribbean doesn't imply that I think the video refs are doing a good job or that the video ref system doesn't need an overhaul. I do like your posts oikee. I think you are right in that the NRL - and rugby league in general - is run by fools. I think it has been that way for a long time actually and it does need fixing up. They all think they are thinking big but actually, they are thinking in a very small pond. "Caribbean refs is not derogative, it is just being nice to a bunch of useless refs." Err...