NRL flies the white flag on wrestling

"You're a cheat Harrigan" "You're off Tallis"

Agree in principle, but maybe Held then count under the breath to 3 and then penalise. If you remember Super League in 1997 the powers that be decide to be very harsh on this and the game sped up considerably. And what happened? First, masses of dummy half running because with the markers not having time to get in place and the defence did not have time to get back. So a hooker sprinting past prone defenders and straight at a retreating defensive line was a guaranteed 12 metres every time. Second. The surrender. Players were literally throwing themselves at the ground in front of defenders, who then had to immediately roll away, resulting in a lightning fast play the ball and ... more dummy half running. Unintended consequences. So yes, by all means police the ruck more stringently, but a balance has to be maintained.

This is a good article and highlights more than a few problems. The first problem is that referees have probably been instructed not to blow penalties even though that's exactly what they should be doing. When the ref calls held players need to moving immediately off the tackled player. If they dont penalty. It shouldnt matter if there are 3-4 tacklers. If they dont get up then penalize them. When they finally get the message guess what less wrestling, less gang tackles and a more attractive game. Its all on the referee. The referee before the kick off can always mention to the captains "I will be policing the ruck carefully make sure players release immediately when I call held". The next thing you have to ask yourself is, why are there so many gang tackles. Its rather simple, coaches have become predictable and are too scared to take chances in a game. When you have 3-4 players in the tackle then somewhere in the defensive line there has to be a gap. Rather than trying to exploit those gaps with a backline move or with second phase play attacking players would have been instructed to take the tackle. How many times do you see it, 3 tackles with one out hit ups, 4th tackle possibly a backline move, 5th tackle bomb or clearing kick. It has become a little too predictable and boring. While trying to speed up the game the NRL with all their rule changes have probably slowed it down. Players are fitter than ever and yet hardly anyone can play for 80 mins anymore. Where is the fatigue factor in the game now that allows teams to exploit a tiring defence and for fit forwards to dominate in the back end of games. Thats right they are in the interchange bench. All those simple elements are there we just have to reverse some of the rule changes implemented and you will get the game back that you have been missing all these years. Things that I miss that I hardly see anymore are ball playing forwards who know how to pop a pass, grass cutting tackles, off loading for second phase play, backline moves more than once in the set, set plays from taps in play (who remembers all those set plays Jack Gibson did with Parra, it was brilliant stuff.) I remember what rugby league used to look like and this isnt it. Then again maybe its just me.

The comments above about creating a game of dummy half running and attacking players submitting to tackles to get quick play the balls are correct. You can't stop the wrestle. You can however heavily penalise defenders whom are guilty of the chicken wing, the crusher and placing undue force on an attacking players head and neck whilst they are on the ground trying to get up. The solution?? On report with automatic carry over points for 1st offence, 5 minute sin bin for 2nd offence - On report and automatic carry over points , 10 minutes for 3rd offence and on report with automatic carry over points. Support this heavy handed penalty structure with refs being given full discretion to send a player off. While your at it rub out the trash talk that players are giving to the ref with automatic 5 mins in the bin for any untoward behaviour towards a ref.

Actually lets expand on this,have you watched freestyle wresting at the olympics.A fighter crouched low driving into the thighs of his opponent.lifting him and putting him on his back is how most fights are decided,in other words a traditional Rugby League tackle.

Rugby League is based around wrestling and always has been,tackling is a form of wrestling.The same applies to Rugby Union and Australian Rules Football/. If you do not enjoy watching wrestling may I suggest soccer (and even it involves some minor wrestling).If you want to watch Rugby League minus the "wrestling" then touch football should suit your tastes, so head to a park and watch it. In simple terms the only way to eliminate wrestling is to eliminate tackling which is just another name for wrestling and that leaves you with touch,it really is as simple as that \

RL turning into a crap game. I had American visitors recently and they appreciated the physicality but laughed at the scrum. The 10 metre rule makes it quite often 5 tackles and a kick. It's turning blokes like Cronk into superstars. But the skills of Steve Mortimer and Sterling are diss spearing from our game. With increased interchanges the small forward with skills who came to the fore in the last quarter of the game is gone. Don't get me started on wrestling and refs. The supposedly greatest game is becoming boring.

The wrestle has ruin the game alot! I agree in calling held then count 3 seconds. Three seconds is 100, 200, 300 without stuttering for the person who questioned that.

Four replacements for me.

So much to agree with. Your once upon a time comment is still what is in the rule book. Once a player's progress is halted, the ref is to call held. It doesn't happen. I agree also with your comment on the one man tackle. Reward the tackler and let him have a wee bit more time to clear. It wouldn't worry me one bit if the referees blew the pea out of the whistle. The players might learn something. Too often referees put their whistle back ion their pocket for the last 5-10 minutes of game. If it worth a penaly in the first minute of a game its worth it in the 79th minute of the game. As well it is hard to make comparisons to different periods of the game. The early 90s and before, players could compete for the ball which did take pressure off the ref. Players can't compete anymore except in very isolated circumstances.

Might as well play touch footy where the players run in and touch the opponent themself and plays the ball...cos the 'one call held' rule is going to have the forwards not run hard cos they can just attract 3 players, slow down, get held standing, play the ball and the the defense has 3 players less cos by the time they try to defend the ruck area the ball is with another forward doing the same exact thing and these 3 players, from the initial tackle, will than be running back, not 10 metres, but 20 metres to get back in line with the referee...

Greenberg needs to do something to justify that pay packet or step aside and let someone competent take over. This muppet is outspoken on things that don't need fixing in the game and yet yields that he is powerless to change the biggest problem in it

I do like the idea of reduced time in the ruck for defenders, however it's not as simple as penalising defenders once the 'held' call is given. Momentum plays a huge part in the tackle, whether or not the contest is 'won' by the man with the ball or the defenders. If three defenders belt an attacker and drive him back 10metres, the dominancy of the tackle deserves extra time for the defenders to get up and return to the line. If someone is picked up and slammed on their back, then gets up and plays the ball before the defenders have even returned to the feet, there'd be a strange flow to the game where there's no momentum and teams just score set for set. By all means, if someone makes a half-break and makes 15m, I agree the defenders should be forced to clear immediately. The referees are being coached to referee the ruck by their interpretation of the tackle, i.e a dominant tackle allows you extra time whilst a half-break would see him call 'move' to the defence earlier (I know this because a referee from the NSWRL came to our training session in pre-season to give us a crash course on how they police the ruck). I think the problem is, like with many other things in refereeing, they're looking too much into it and coming up with structures and rules for 'interpretations'. It's going to be very hard for them to completely remove the wrestling from the game, though I do agree they need to try.

I concur

I like the idea. Part of the reason I dislike the modern game is how little the ball is in play compared to other era's and a lot of this is down to the slow play the ball. I do think it has sped up this year though. But on you idea(if you want to call it that), I like it as long as the ref has a feel for when players are just taking a dive to get a quick play the ball for that will be the danger of trying to force the defenders to roll away quickly. If the ref thinks this is the case then I am happy for him to let the defense hold down the player a longer.

Alvin, in the old days Newtown would get the ball and you could down 3 schooners before your team got a chance to have a go in attack . Kinda RU in depression. You are so right about RL having those corrected. Saved the game

Maximillian - you are probably correct but remember the rule is already in place (to release the player immediately) so it is more enforcing the rule and then seeing what works and was doesn't. One good thing about RL is that it will make changes to make the game more attractive. My old man tells me about the 3M rule/unlimited tackle rule he played under. I have seen old film and this use to be 1M. Look what we have seen in the last 10yrs or so. 40/20 rule, corner post no longer being out of play, zero tackle etc. For me all innovative and in the case of the corner post rule change producing some spectacular tries. So lets fix the negative first and worry about what the result is after

Mark - it was 20 years ago but I believe one of the schools was Wakefield Grammar from what I can remember. Obviously for another thread but I still think of it everytime the talk of a hybrid game comes up.

The pocket referee can't even tell when the markers aren't square when he is standing right behind the play the ball.

And count to 5 for one on one tackles.