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On Channel Nine‘s The Footy Show last Sunday, City Origin coach Brad Fittler questioned the way Josh Jackson played the ball that led to Sam Perrett’s try for the Bulldogs versus Panthers on Saturday night.
“I know nobody uses their foot anymore, and that’s fine,” said Fittler.
“But you have to make a genuine attempt to use the foot. They’ve let it go too far – and I saw the referee’s eyes – he was looking straight at the play-the-ball.”
Fittler thought the tolerance was too great. They’d crossed the line. Well, Freddie, you’re a coach and you have helped us to get this point. So where is the line you’re talking about?
What’s good enough to play on and what should be penalised? I’ll come back to the concept of a figurative ‘line in the sand’ for the officials shortly.
Later on Sunday The Roar columnist Matt Elliott was brought to account by a wonderful caller from Coffs Harbour who (in between spotting migrating humpback whales off the coast) found time to phone in to ABC Grandstand.
“Every time I’ve been to a game and seen the warm-up the players don’t use their foot – they just roll it between their legs. So I think people like you are partly to blame. If that’s what they train to do they’ll do it in the game,” she said.
Of course she was right. Matt Elliott put his hand up straight away. It drives the fans crazy, but the coaches don’t want the foot on the ball – they get a quicker play the ball away. It helps their attack on the next tackle.
As far as the laws are concerned, a player must heel the ball back after rising to his feet and bringing the ball off the ground. Forget about those latter two points for the time being. That’s for another day. As far as the officials are concerned, they are instructed to allow the play-the-ball if there is a ‘genuine attempt’ to use his foot.
So what constitutes a ‘genuine attempt’? Well that depends upon who you ask. Referees bosses have tried ever since I can remember to get all the referees on one page when it comes to these ‘discretionary’ points. If, as a touch judge, the ball hits the touch line you need to put the flag up – no two ways about it. If a player on the 10-metre line leaves early but the ball goes the other side of the ruck, you hold off telling the referee – discretionary.
They are both correct decisions in today’s game.
What about flopping on the tackled player, or getting a foot on the ball to play it? Markers not being square when the dummy half tries to milk a penalty? Those call on the referee’s judgment, and between the 20 or so referees in the full-time NRL squad their opinions can vary.
In 2008 when I came into the NRL Robert Finch was the referees’ coach and he spent the next three years trying to get all the referees to penalise players for ‘flopping in’ on the tackle. We see it every week: player held on the ground and a split second later another defender jumps on top. Sometimes they get off quickly and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they are penalised and sometimes they are not.
Finchy wanted every one of them penalised. It will get it out of the game, he argued. The only thing that the player flopping in is trying to do is slow down the play-the-ball. Penalise every one and we will eradicate it.
The only thing he didn’t count on is that not all the referees abided. Some did, while others deliberately allowed one or two a game knowing they would be wrapped on the knuckles come Monday for not awarding a penalty. It didn’t matter. They wouldn’t get on board.
By the end of 2010 Robert Finch was given his marching orders and Bill Harrigan and Stuart Raper were given the job of coaching the referees. Billy was clear in what he wanted during his administration: a policy of ‘back to basics’.
Get them on-side at the kick off, get a foot on the ball, get the defenders’ body mass in line with the referee on the 10 metres, and for God’s sake don’t miss any forward passes from dummy half. Simple.
The only thing he didn’t count on is the same thing that Finch had trouble with. The referees didn’t ‘buy in’ to his vision. Certainly there were a lot who did. Most of the junior referees would penalise when they were required to, only to see their more senior peers brush things and then simply cop the criticism on review.
I’ll give you a specific example of how hard it is to get all the 16 appointed referees each week to see things the same way.
In 2011 the referees were at training at Sydney Olympic Park when the topic of goal-line drop outs was raised. Billy threw the ball to Phil Haines and asked him to simulate a restart of play via a goal-line dropout.
“Kick it on the line,” were his instructions.
For the second kick, while all the full-time referees were observing, Billy asked Hainsey to drop it fifteen centimetres out from the goal-line.
“Now who’s going to penalise that?” Billy challenged. Shakes of head all round.
Third up the kick was from 30 centimetres out. Still bemused looks from the refs, but nobody willing to penalise.
The next kick was half a metre over the goal-line, at which point two hands went up to indicate that they would penalise the kicking team for dropping it out over the line.
One metre over the line and finally half the referees put their hands up saying they would penalise. Hoorah! Some progress.
The final kick was two metres over the goal-line and still there were shakes of the head. Billy had seen enough.
“None of you blokes can agree on where the line is. Every one of those kicks was over the line, and you blokes can’t work out whether 30 centimetres or two metres is enough for a penalty. I’ll tell you where the line is – it’s where the line is marked. I don’t care how far over it is – if it’s over, penalise them.”
Well, from what I can tell it all went downhill from there. The referees as a group were never on the same platform, let alone in the same train carriage.
So Freddie, when your boys are getting a foot to the ball – where’s that line again?
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