Rugby league must ban the third man in tackles

You must not travel around too much

you need to get out more

Yes I've noticed that the flop has made a big come back this year and the refs are all but oblivious to it. The Roosters and Storm are the worst for this tactic but every team is doing it. The thing that annoys me is that the rule is already there to enforce it. The cannonball has been in fine form this year as well with very few of them getting picked up by refs.

Over here Rugby is very elitist while League is the everymans game. Rugby for instance, is mostly played among rich private schools and the such for juniors. While League is played by less privileged public schools. Over here League is an abomination to the rich Union man and that's just the way us Leaguies like it. (Though secretly 99.5% of fans from both codes couldn't care less and just enjoy the banter)

Never mind the 3rd man in a tackle, what about the consistent and sometimes never penalised 3rd or 2nd tackling player just dropping themselves on top of the defenceless tackled player and injuring them. That is something that really gets up my goat and I consider that a weak and low act to do. And the other thing with a 3rd man is that they always must and have to put the attacking player on the deck, yes I know that it gives time to his side to regroup and he makes the attacking player use more energy to get up and play the ball, but that 3rd man coming in is most often when most of the bad injuries in tackles happen and he plays a key role in making the tackle dangerous. Most of the time there is no need for the 3rd man to come into any tackle and the referees do nothing about it and just let it go as if nothing has happened. It happened so many times in last weeks rounds.

Interesting article apart from the first paragraph - do people really believe that? Why did you have to bag rugby? I've only ever met 4 or 5 people in my life who prefer league to rugby compared to thousands the other way (I am from NZ and league is my 4th or 5th fav sport) but no one over here ever bags league like aussie leaguies seem to bag rugby

The speed of the ruck is actually quite fast, the fastest it has been in years. The quickest way to speed it up is for the refs to just blow the whistle like they should. They could create the onus on the defender to get off if they just called it. But they don't, the players play to the ref, not the other way around. I honestly think the biggest blight on the game is time wasting. For an 80 minute game, I reckon only 3/4 of that time is actual "rugby league time". Packing scrums, drop outs etc - hand me a no-doz while I try and stay awake.

While the idea has merit, practically it won't work for the reason already mentioned here. Having one rule in one area of the field and another in another part will not work. League was a great game because the rules were black and white with no grey areas. The only complex part of the rules was in the scrum and since that has gone, this doesn't count anymore. What do we have now? Voluntary tackles accepted, players walking off the mark, accepted they are sometimes called back, scrums won against the feed but called back. The rules all state that this is wrong. They are NRL interpretations which should be confined to the WPB. Another "rule", no stripping the ball but if over the try line this is acceptable. And this is not even looking at obvious problems like forward passes at the plat the ball, players consistently offside in the play the ball. What we need is for the referees to administer the rules of the game without fear or favour. If that means ablanket ban on coaches complaining, so be it. Most of the complaints are because their team lost and they are covering themselves by saying it was the refs. Ideally, the referees should have their own association responsible only to the ARL. Also, it doesn't go down well slamming other sports. What are the problems that the 15 man game has?

I still think the solution is to make all involved in the tackle stand at marker. 3 in the tackle means 3 markers and gaps out wide. Not only discourages gang tackling but encourages wider, more expansive play and less dummy half / one off the ruck.

Stupid idea. First of all the NRL released a study on injuries sustained in tackles last year and found that the two man tackle was slightly more likely to result in an injury than a three man tackle, so it blows the dangerous argument out of the water. The speed of the ruck has been very good this year with the only slow ruck speed games coming from lenient referees. All this will do is potentially rub the smaller players out of the game because guys like Sam Kasiano will pick out the tiniest player, and once he makes contact only one other guy can join in.

The writer suggests more than two people could be involved in the tackle if the play is within five metres of the try line.

An interesting idea, but because it's such a big change to the game I think it would need to be trialled first, in either the NYC competition, or the NRL All Star's game.

I think the problem is with the guy who comes in late and does nothing other than slow down the play the ball. Blokes like Vidot hardly make any ground until a few guys try to tackle him, then he uses his big legs to propel forwards, so it's necessary for someone to grab his ankles to stop him. This would be a hard rule to write, as the late man in is a blight on the game, yet it's often necessary for someone to come in late to stop the big guys from rolling forward. Maybe ban tacklers from joining in once the attackers momentum is initially stopped. Once momentum is stopped, tacklers can join in only to prevent off loads, but can't take to attacker to the ground (ie they release the attacker immediately held is called). It is the (last man in) defenders responsibility to roll away from the ruck to the extent possible. This stuff is open to interpretation so it'll be another bone of contention.

Yep. George Burgess charges onto the ball from 30 out. Four defenders converge but two have to stand around like wallies while he tramples over the top of the first two and scores. Defenders standing around impotently is a worse look for the game than the odd injury. Most suggested rule changes are to find ways to bring the little blokes into the game. This is completely suited to the behemoth.

Will benefit the polynesian boys who can carry two people on their backs a fair distance, unless, tackling around the ankles becomes fashionable again.

What happens when defending your own try line and u need more bodies to stop the try other then two. Oh sorry I could have stopped that try but the rules say I can't be the third man. This is just one problem. no personal remarks-thanks mods

i think the idea of limiting tacklers has some merit and would solve problems, i just think its hard to enforce,what happens if one tackler is kind of brushed off but still on the runner, can a third join in? or must they wait until they are sure that there is only one other player involved? i think it will lead to a lot of penalties