- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The NRL season began with the referees calling players up on every little thing. Now, 10 rounds into the season, the referees seem to be letting a lot of things go.
Play the balls are scrappy, players are offside and scrums are not formed correctly. They also seem to be less strict on teams slowing down the play the ball.
They at least seem to be consistent with what they are letting go, however as a fan I want them to call things as they see them. I want them to stop being lenient.
I know more penalties will be blown as a result, but players will quickly learn they can’t get away with everything. The referees are coaching players during a game. If a NRL player does not know the rules then they shouldn’t be playing first grade.
While watching the Raiders and Penrith game on Sunday, I heard Gavin Badger call Peter Wallace out for offside three times before the play restarted after a stoppage. Wallace finally heard the call and got back onside.
Wallace had plenty of time to check if he was onside while he was waiting for the play the ball. If he can’t get back onside, then blow the penalty instead of warning him.
The onus needs to be on the players to follow the rules. The referees shouldn’t be giving warnings.
Players try to test their boundaries as they know they can get away with just a warning. If a player is doing something wrong, penalise him. They will very quickly start doing the right thing.
If you’ve got one team constantly doing the right thing andanother team pushing the boundaries and getting only warnings, it’s not fair on the team that are following the rules.
Referees only seem to take action when they’ve felt they’ve given enough warnings.
I would like to see more penalties blown at the scrum. NRL players seem to ‘forget’ how to pack a scrum to have a bit more of a rest. Stop coaching teams on how to pack a scrum. Let them pack it and if it’s not correct, penalise them.
Another pet peeve is the constant reminding of players to play the ball with their foot. Playing the ball is an entry-level skill. Players shouldn’t have to be reminded how to do it correctly.
If referees stopped the coaching, we would see the penalty count rise for a couple of weeks. But coaches will quickly be instructing their players to get onside, get out of the ruck quickly and play the ball correctly.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.