September has brought with it a lot of things. Father’s Day, the first day of spring and unfortunately over recent days bush fires have sprung up across New South Wales.
But September also brings with it the pinnacle of club rugby league.
You know that thing that all fans thirst for.
That dream of seeing your team holding up the premiership trophy in the final game of the year.
Yes it is finals time in the National Rugby League and only eight teams are left standing.
But there has been a sprawling epidemic that has crept across the competition since Round 1 of season 2013. A plague that has entrenched itself in the fabric of the toughest game on the planet.
While we sit on the cusp of the most anticipated playoffs in history one thing remains a bugbear for supporters, coaches, experts and players.
Every week we are entranced by the athleticism and skill of the modern player.
Yet we shake our heads and throw whatever we can at the television screens week after week wondering what is happening to our game.
Only one thing can wreck this finals series.
The over-officiated way games are being policed by the referees.
Since the outlawing of the shoulder charge and the crackdown on fighting, the product has been altered dramatically. The snowball effect has been alarming to say the least.
Everything is dangerous and everything is illegal.
It was evident on Sunday night in the freezing cold of the nation’s capital between the Canberra Raiders and the Cronulla Sharks.
The 5 foot 11 inch, 90 kilogram Canberra centre Jarrod Croker was penalised for supposedly striking the 6 foot 2 inch, 112 kilogram Cronulla bookend Bryce Gibbs.
Anyone that knows anything about the game could see this was a desperate smaller man trying to release the grasp of the much bigger attacking player who had the scruff of his jersey.
This act has been seen thousands upon thousands of times in all levels of rugby league.
If that is a penalty one week before the finals then god help us.
It is time the officials put away their whistles and let the players play the game.
Media reports have confirmed that the two most penalised sides this season will go at it on Saturday night in a blockbuster match at Allianz Stadium. The Sydney Roosters (penalised 204 times in 2013) face the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (penalised 185 times).
Are these sides ill-disciplined or are the top sides in the NRL being punished for being consistently more intense through the season than other sides?
“Obviously we know we’re giving penalties away but obviously we’re defending it,” Sydney ace Michael Jennings told the media on Tuesday.
“We know that what we do after the penalty is going to be reflected … in the points.
“Really it’s just discipline that at the end of the day you’ve just got to fix.
“We are addressing it, it’s not a big deal,” he said.
It isn’t a big deal to Jennings or the other players.
They are professionals and will deal with whatever happens in the spur of the moment.
But what happens when a soft penalty costs your side a try or a penalty goal this weekend that may see your side eliminated from the race to ANZ Stadium on October sixth?
Keep Jarrod Croker’s “strike” on Bryce Gibbs in mind.
If that is a penalty then we are in trouble.
These referees won’t be able to handle the intensity that is most certainly going to rise over the coming weeks.
What happened to the brutality that can win you a game of football?
Forget brutality.
What happened to referees allowing a game to breathe?
When was the last time you saw an honest to goodness arm wrestle without hearing the whistle?
Let’s hope these officials remember their place and remember that the spectacle is the players and not them. That harnessing the image of the NRL has to be levelled with what makes our game different to all the others.
Please gentlemen, leave your whistles at home.
Fran_Gipani
Guest
*Chortle*
Fran_Gipani
Guest
Gotcha Johnny ;)
john badseed
Guest
Oikee you're such a dinosaur the NRL is no longer about beer swilling, pie eating yobs on the hill it's about sponsors and families. Families don't lose their temper, women and kids never go the knuckle in fact they drink tea and eat fairy bread. If you wanna watch old fashion footy, with refs making on the spot decisions and tempers being tested, go back to watching games at suburban grounds and leave the NRL to real footy fans - the advertisers and pommy accountants. (sarcasm Fran)
The eye
Guest
As long as they put that 'physical touch' below the neck..play on
Fran_Gipani
Guest
Oikee: save yourself the trauma of watching league. Geez you remind me of 'the clockwork orange' kid with his eyes forced open to watch THE GAME IF HORROR!
Matt
Guest
Just like their economy?
Fran_Gipani
Guest
There's a myriad of non contact sports to choose from if one can't cope with the inevitable physical 'touch'.
The eye
Guest
I really don't know why 'diving' is frowned upon .If you've been hit across the chops while carrying the ball you DESERVE a penalty..what should I think,'Oh, the ref missed it so I'll just get up and wish good luck to the cheap shot merchant who almost dislocated my jaw?'
Mike from tari
Guest
If the refs & touchies did their job & penalised as soon as someone got a whack in the face, players would not have to dive. Now can someone explain to me why 4 players in a tackle have more time to get off than one or two players & why a beautiful low grassing tackle is not called dominant.
Sleemo
Guest
...so if a captain loses his two or three or whatever number of allocated challenges, and the ref/video ref makes a shockingly bad decision (as happens currently from time to time), that's fine then? No it won't be, because then you'll turn around and blame the referees and say they are ruining the game and how we need a better system. Mistakes will be made whether there are no video referees, one video ref, two video refs, one or two onfield refs, captain's challenge, this year's system where the referee makes a call and then sends it upstairs, last year's system where the ref sent it straight upstairs...get my drift? How about we just strip it all back and accept that mistakes will be made regardless of how much we try to eliminate them. I hardly believe that there were more or less mistakes made in the average rugby league game thirty years ago than the average game today. Technology can't eliminate them - in fact nothing will - so they ought to be accepted.
Sleemo
Guest
So what you're saying is basically get rid of the rules, allow players to niggle and hurt each other if they way, allow players to be five metres offside, allow forward passes...yeah, right. It's a sporting contest regulated by rules. Rules are necessary. If you think rugby league is in such a bad shape why do you continue to comment on it and/or watch it?
Only
Guest
Players diving today ( they all do it so don't just blame 1 or 2 of them) is a direct result of refs not watching the game. Geese there are 2 of them within 10 meters and 2 touchies within 40 meters and they can't pick up on a high tackle. Common.. I'm sick of the diving debate being about the players, ithas to come back to the boys in pink who consistantly miss them, he ce the diving, he ce the slowing of the game.
barfly
Guest
Curt sad but so very true........................
maximillian
Guest
Yes Ive seen the challenge in U20s so Im aware how it works. Your idea would be even more ridiculous if you didn't get to keep the challenge after getting it right?! Oikee I guarantee if a gf was decided by a dud call you would be blowing up deluxe on the roar about refereeing ineptitude! Imagine if the Broncos lost a gf are you telling me your attitude would be "...so be it". Im all for innovation as long as it improves the game. All a captains challenge does is increase the chances for refereeing errors once the challenge is used. I watched the Warriors U20s on the weekend & the captain used a challenge not because he thought he could get the call overturned, but because his team had defended back to back sets on their own tryline so he used the challenge to give his team an extra 60 seconds rest before they reset their defence! We will see more teams use this in a negative way instead of its intended purpose so again I ask, how is this better?!
oikee
Guest
If that decides the grand final, so be it. We can blame the Captain then for making a dud call and losing his challenge. You do understand that if you challenge and make the right call you keep your challenge. ?? Tell me you know that, ??? My head is starting to hurt . I am trying to help the refs become human, that is my mission. Not scared little wannabee rabbits hiding behind the videoman apron strings.
maximillian
Guest
Oikee you have bagged the refs more than any other person on this site so you understand that it is entirely feasible to have more than 1 or 2 bad refereeing decisions a game? If a captain has no challenges left & the ref comes up with an absolute howler then that decision will stand? What if that decides the gf? In that regard it is just like the DRS in the ashes as Stuart Broad was caught behind but was given not out by an umpiring howler. Clarke had no captains challenge left so the horrible decision stands & England win that game. How is that better? Surely the current system is better as the ref can make multiple bad decisions & the video ref can overturn the lot.
oikee
Guest
Trust me it is nothing like the Cricket challenge. The whole idea of the NRL challenge is to take the responsibilty away from our refs, who want to send everything to the videoman. Our code was not meant to be played like this, where the ref is scared, scared of the fans, scared of the players, scared of the commentators and even their Mrs. The challenge system for rugby league will put the mistakes into the team who makes those mistakes hands. They will be the guys who make the challenge and lose the challenge if they are wrong. Look, Gridiron use this system and it works, our code is perfect, the most perfect code in the world to use this system, yet we are trailing it now for a year in the under 20's, it could have been introduced into the NRL before Origin. Our code is slow, it has been run by dinosaurs now for over 100 years, the new tenants are working on stuff-up after stuff-up and have not got around to the Captains challenge as yet. trust me, it will come in because it is the best system in the world for rugby league. It will take all the pressure off the refs on the field. And they can start making calls, instead of sending everything to the videoman. Imagine the sweet sound of blowing the whistle for a try again, remember those days, where the ref blew the whistle when you scored. ???? How many times have you heard it now,? Never, they always do the little try thing and send it away, to a place unchartered, on another planet for aliens to look at, only to send it back and still get it wrong.,..
maximillian
Guest
the captains challenge sounds a lot like the DRS in Cricket & if you watched the ashes recently, you'll know its not without its own flaws. There is no perfect black & white system in a game like RL that has so much grey, so I'm happy to support the system that gives us the best chance of getting the correct decisions. To me, the current system where the ref goes to the video as often as he needs to get the correct calls is still the most accurate.
oikee
Guest
Wow, you read my mind, agree and i just finished posting a back-up post to Matt above. The refs need to have a feel for the game, not the fans yelling out forward, or crying penalty, for something soft. A captains challenge will make things tasty again, bring in fine line entertainment and stop the soft diving. Imagine only getting two challenges a game, one in each half, you lose that challenge and the other team can start getting away with more and more niggle. Nothing wrong with niggle, we applaud good niggle and halfbacks like Maloney who are cheeky. So why are we killing the code softly, with softly softly approach. The code needs big change without big fuss, and the best way to introduce this change is through the challenge system. Americans would have this up and running, our backward little country needs 3 years to make change. I would hate to have a puncture, cab charges would be killing the bottom line.
oikee
Guest
Matt, you said, "Once someone face massages and gets away with it, what do you think the opposition is going to do… it just escalates up.". spot on, it gets tasty as our English commentary cousins in England would say, and our hearts skip a beat the tastier it gets. That is what we want to see, nobody cares about fans calling for penalties because joe is not back the requiored 10, just warn him,. Our hearts skip a beat when a player gets up and looks for revenge, and we all get excited when the refs let it flow until somebody gets hurt. Big deal, that is life, its all fun and games uintil somebody gets hurt, the difference being is these guys are being paid big money, yes big money to be hurt. If we are going to turn it into a penaltyathon, then bring in the girls netball team and lets get it on. Lingerie and g-strings attached. hehe.