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Get diving out of the NRL ASAP!

Curtis Sironen tackles Glenn Stewart. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Roar Pro
14th April, 2015
16

On Tuesday, Glenn Stewart admitted to taking a dive to get an obstruction penalty in Monday night’s game against North Queensland.

Stewart told the media he deliberately fell after running into Ethan Lowe as Michael Morgan went on to score, because he knew he wasn’t going to get to Morgan to stop the try.

The on-field referee sent the try to the video ref, who came back with a no try ruling.

I applaud Stewart for being honest, as we want to encourage that behaviour from players. The only problem is that what he is admitting to is disgraceful.

Diving should not be accepted in our game. It’s poor sportsmanship and looks terrible.

It’s bad enough that we have players staying down to get a penalty. In Saturday afternoon’s game between the Titans and Eels, Greg Bird stayed down after being brushed in the head. The referees reviewed the footage and saw that he was barely touched and rightly called play on.

There is no way a player as tough as Bird would have been injured from contact as soft as that. It was obvious the only reason Bird stayed down was to get a penalty.

The NRL are in a tough position with the Stewart situation, because the video referee has made an incorrect call and by punishing Stewart they are publicly confirming that. Stewart’s flippant comment will now have a flow-on affect, as referees will now look deeper in to whether a player is diving or not.

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It’s something that should already be part of their decision-making process, however if they think about it too long or put too much emphasis on it, they will get it wrong.

The only way to get diving out of the game is to take a stand. If action isn’t taken soon, the game will end up with the same reputation as soccer.

The NRL need to fine Stewart and not worry about the backlash from making an incorrect call. They need to change the rules so that any player who stays down to get a penalty is penalised if it’s deemed they aren’t legit.

Players are going to do what they can to get the win, but the game needs to stop allowing this, and if a player is at risk of being penalised for staying down or taking a dive, they’ll stop doing it very quickly.

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