Two announcements in the past few days prompt me to declare this Good News Week for rugby league.
The first announcement should go down extremely well with frustrated league fans around the nation.
NRL Head of Football Todd Greenberg says the ruling body will trial a ‘central command’ centre next season.
Based on the successful NFL and NHL systems in the USA, the league is attempting to streamline and hopefully improve the consistency and accuracy of referee decisions by channelling all replays to a master video centre.
This would vastly reduce the number of video referees around the grounds, with the idea that this core group would be the cream of the crop and therefore expected to make more correct and consistent decisions.
“Given the technology that’s available we have to look at ways to get better,” Greenberg told AAP.
“We will undertake a feasibility study into a central command centre where in-game decisions can be made by a smaller number of experts.
“We think this will have a real impact on the consistency because the same group of people can make calls on various games across the round.
“The command centre could be a real game-changer for rugby league, our biggest (innovation) since technology was introduced.”
Greenberg added that establishing the new video adjudication system would cost “millions of dollars” but there would not be a solitary fan who complained if the weekly complaints and controversy subsided.
There can never be a perfect system where personal opinions are involved but the NRL must be applauded for at least trialling a new process.
A host of questions are sure to arise: who will comprise this four or five-man video panel? How will these ‘experts’ be chosen? Will they come from the refereeing ranks, will they be former players or could there even be someone not connected with the game, perhaps a ‘man in the street’ representative?
Greenberg said there was also an opportunity for specific injury surveillance and that coaches, post-game, might be given charge-sheets outlining potential penalties for their players’ on-field misdemeanours.
The second good news item was that one of Australia’s finest rugby league scribes, Ian Heads, has been inducted into the SCG’s inaugural Media Hall of Fame.
This man is quite possibly the best league writer we have seen in this country, having 12 consecutive seasons with the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph and later serving as supremo at Rugby League Week, as well as being a casual contributor for several other league outlets.
After leaving newspapers and magazines, the highly professional and extremely likeable Heads became a prolific author of more than 40 sports books, many of which centred on his pet subject, rugby league.
I was delighted to see Ian’s name on the list of inaugural inductees. If you have read his work, you have been informed and/or entertained by the man I have long regarded regard as the rugby league doyen.
paul craggie
Guest
A command centre indeed. I didn't think Window dressing was necessary in a bunker.
paul craggie
Guest
How much do we pay them to engineer a close, exciting finish ?
paul craggie
Guest
Sorry, did you mean stuff ups or cover ups.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
I agree that forward passes should be penalised when the receiver is offside. Watch any set of six and the dummy half throws two to three a set and they get away with it. Another annoying part is walking off the mark. Referee stop and tell players to go back and play it. My local country group penalises (correctly) walking off the mark. How come country refs get it right but NRL ref s can't? Simple, they will be lambasted by the media for blowing penalties.
cedric
Guest
why oh why can't the ref watch the big screen like everyone else does and make the call. He would get less wrong than the video ref surely, cause sometimes you wonder if they are drinkin doubles. On another note how does Ennis get away with not being sin binned and I thought his hold on Lukes legs was looking a bit dangerous.
Glenn Innes
Guest
What a complete wank,what's the bet this time next season everyone is bitching and moaning about the officials just like they have done for the 106 years the game has been played in Australia. What difference does it make if they are watching on a screen in a booth at the ground or at some central command centre?Video ref is a cancer in Rugby League, what was once a free flowing game is punctuated by constant lengthy delays nearly every time the ball enters the in goal.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Maybe we should be looking at why we have so many problems with the refs. All the rule changes over the past few years gave helped no one. The worst part is that if a referee makes a mistake it can lose a game for a team (Cowboys?). Why is it so important for the referee to get it right? because teams can no longer compete for the ball so a mistake can't be glossed over with the team competing and winning the ball back. In our four football codes, league is the only one where players cannot compete for the ball. This is something the NRL needs to look at.
Charles NSW
Guest
Now that is funny Muzz!
Muzz
Guest
Will a representative from sportsbet be in the central command centre?
bunger
Guest
I love it, 'the command centre'. I can just see the meeting where they came up with the name. What a good news story indeed! Where is Roy and HG to dissect this one?
Ian
Guest
Major League of Baseball also implemented this at the beginning of the 2014 season and has been pretty well received.
Hilly
Guest
Perfect solutions Don. I would like to add that if a ref is unsure of a try HE should be able to look at the replays on the big screen and look for confirmation of what he thought he saw in real time and then make his own decision. The ref is usually in the way of the best camera angle anyway. I would also like to see the 5 minute sin bin brought back ASAP for professional fouls and persistent infringements. I think it would act like a period of 'Power Play' for the team with the player advantage.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Yeah it's hard to imagine Bennett or Robinson on the rules committee not pushing what's best for their team rather than what's best for the game. If they're not pushing for what's best for their teams then they're not doing their main job properly. The conflict of interest is built in. That's not a specific crack at them - I'd say the same about any coach.
Liatrevlis
Guest
Top idea Mike , prob is they'd all get the arse , no one left ,,, then what do we do ?
Bondy
Guest
For whatever panel they came up with to adjudicate the rulings I wouldn't dispute their credentials, but I hope it doesn't get like gridiron and the game being slowed down ?. A good news week for the NRL good luck to them , it generally cops a hammering ....
Charles NSW
Guest
Good comments Don! Those reasons rectified will improve the game immensley.
Pogo
Guest
Totally agree. How hard can it be to just apply the rules??? Especially in the play the ball situation (one of my favorite hobby horses!) Almost every play the ball, you see the marker holding on to the ball player, and not just when it is a fast PTB. And then, the ball player often charges forward or otherwise impedes the marker, sometime even knocking them over. But the refs rarely (never?) see it. Penalise it a few times, consistently, and it will disappear. It sure ain't rocket surgery!
Mike from Tari
Guest
Tim, put the Refs on a bonus system; No errors -------------------$20,000 1 error -----------------------$10,000 2 errors ---------------------$ 5,000 Cluster F...k ----------------no pay We pay them a lot of money so maybe they should be on a bonus system, would be cheaper than setting up command bunker.
TONY
Guest
Funny.
cedric
Guest
dead right Don, penalise them. , Maybe the refs were told to lay off the penalties to get the games flowing, yeah like that worked ( not )! Its just silly that the ref calls try or no try, why not say I'm not sure lets look at it ( what a revelation )! Then the ref along with everyone else can look up and watch the screen, make his own decision, I say it again, MAKE HIS OWN DECISION and live with it. Then we don't have spend millions on a little bunker like they have in NFL and they don't have to go and view it in this little bunker alone while we all watch the same stuff on the big screen. I've heard the NFL commentators moan about the usual time lost etc when the ref enters that funny little place to view the play. What really gets me going is; player A does illegal play on player B who is hurt and leaves the field. Player A gets put on report. Player A team now has advantage because B is off the field. Next week player A gets 2 or 4 weeks suspension. So player B got a penalty at the time of the offence and that's it and the following teams get the advantage. Solution; Player A has to be interchanged from the field while same 3 guy panel view tape for max 10 mins and make decision. Then if player A is found guilty and has got a suspension handed to him lets say 4 weeks then he should spend 10 minutes further off the field for every week suspended. Therefore player A penalty for this match is; the penalty/the interchange/40 minutes without him or his replacement on the field (ie 12 men for half the game). Maybe this is a bit harsh but something has to be done for the aggrieved team during that game.