Footy's back: Inconsistency, punching aplenty, and what about compulsory headgear?

The first round of the 2017 NRL season was great. However, the NRL has some issues it needs to get on top of in regard to how they run their games.

I watched virtually every minute of every match of the opening round and just loved it. There is so much to love about our game and the start of the season had lots of it on display.

But, as mentioned at the start, in the NRL’s search for mitigation issues they have implemented solutions that have actually exposed deeper problems, as well as some hypocritical positions.

How referees apply the rules is horses for courses

The match that particularly had me transfixed in Round 1 was the North Queensland Cowboys against the Canberra Raiders. That the Raiders had just 41 per cent of the possession and had to make 111 more tackles than their opponents in the stifling humidity in Townsville – while missing one fewer tackle than the Cowboys – and still nearly won the game was remarkable.

It was all the more remarkable as they were up against an almost full strength Cowboys team and were themselves missing three stars in Jarrod Croker, Junior Paulo, and Jack Wighton.

But most remarkable of all was that they managed to do it with an 11-4 penalty count against them and having a player sin binned for repeated infringements.

There were 98 penalties awarded in Round 1 at an average of 12 a game and 6 per side. The Raiders conceded 11.

Elliott Whitehead has come out and said that most were deserved. Remember too that the Raiders were the most penalised side in 2016. Ben Cummins made good on Tony Archer’s pre-season warning by sin binning Clay Priest after one too many infringements.

While nobody has called for the use of the sin bin for repeated deliberate fouls louder than me, this new stance from Archer is at odds with the way referees control the biggest game of the season – the Grand final.

If the referees are really serious about cracking down of cynical play they must not swallow the whistle in the decider. And they unequivocally do.

Don’t believe me? Look at these stats:

Over the last 11 NRL grand finals there has been an average of just eight penalties awarded.

This is in spite of the two sides in the big dance averaging over 12 conceded between them over the whole season.

12 of the 22 sides that have played off have been in the top five worst offending teams in those seasons. Only in 2009 and 2015 could you argue that a low penalty count was due to two disciplined sides contesting it.

I have no doubt the referees are under immense pressure from multiple parties to ‘let the game flow’ and get out of the way. I also have no doubt that the teams know this well.

Surely the most important games for referees to be in firm control of are the grand finals. Right?

Given this clear whistle shy approach to running grand finals by referees, Ben Cummins and Chris Short’s penalty fest against the Raiders is a bit harder to swallow. The referees should be consistently in control of games in my opinion.

Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns both stated that the Raiders were hard done by. Dean Ritchie was incredulous that Johnathan Thurston didn’t get at least penalised – if not sin binned – for deliberately obstructing Zac Santo from attempting a quick restart from the 20.

Further, he questioned why Raiders captain Josh Hodgson was constantly waved away when trying to talk to the officials, while Thurston was continually tolerated telling them such things as ‘take control of the game.’

While I question allegations of biased refereeing, the issue of Thurston and Cam Smith (The Referee Whisperer) being perceived to have undue influence over the referees is something that Tony Archer must rub out.

He can do that by instructing them to only to talk to each teams captain, to do so at defined times, in defined terms and on defined subjects. This is the way rugby union referees do it, and it works. It is a no-brainer.

Punching, provocation (and playing the balls)

While the referees can be quite inconsistent on some things, punching is not one of them. Fighting sets a bad example for the kids watching the game and isn’t what we want our game known for. Further, there is barely ever a punch thrown in Aussie Rules and if they can manage to all but wipe it out, so can the NRL.

There were two sin bins for punching in Round 1 after Sam Kasiano and Will Chambers swapped blows. There should have been three but Joey Leilua’s love tap to Gavin Cooper’s melon went unseen by the officials.

However, this black and white policy has a big flaw: it doesn’t look for or punish instigators. On the weekend we saw a number of incidents where players smacked on an opposition players head after they’d made an error. The Warriors Ken Maumolo and the Raiders Jordan Rapana were both guilty of this act.

In both cases it inflamed the situations and while punches didn’t fly, they could well have. If behaviour like that does cause an outbreak of fisticuffs I think that the player who did the antagonising should go to the bin along with the punchers.

If not it’s just like when your parents only punished you when all you’d done was to react to your brother’s deliberate provocation in the back seat of the Falcon on the way to Grandmas. That wasn’t fair when we were kids, it isn’t fair now.

Further, there are those players who deliberately try and get players to punch. Who can forget Thurston’s provocative slap on Beau Scott in the 2014 Origin series?

As well, there was the incident in Round 1 2015 when it is possible that Wade Graham tried to get Raiders fullback Jack Wighton swinging by grabbing his meat and two veg.

While I support the sin binning of players for punching, before a referee sends an offender to the bin they must call on the video referee to look for deliberate provocation in the lead up. If they find it then the provocateur also needs to spend ten on the pine.

Further, if the provocation is John Hopoate-esq in nature then only the provocateur must go. Deliberately attacking a players nether regions is vile behaviour that should be treated more severely than reckless high tackles.

Free interchange, and emergency player

And while on the subject of blows to the head, the concussion issue is a big one in rugby league right now. The retirement of Nigel Plum and the fate of Adam Ritson – to name just two – show how continued blows to the head can cause long term and catastrophic effects.

Alex Glenn’s head clash with the Shark’s Sam Tagatese in the 36th minute of their Round 1 encounter was huge. After a very short time he was taken from the field and failed a concussion test. That left the Broncos down one man on the interchange bench and down an unexpected interchange. In a game of inches, those two factors can be telling.

I was raised on the legend of John Sattler in the 1970 Grand Final, playing on with a badly busted jaw. In 2014 we saw Sam Burgess hit by James Graham’s flying head in the first moments of the grand final, smashing his cheekbone. He stayed on and was rewarded with the Clive Churchill Medal. It is the stuff of legend for a player to stare down incapacitation and then triumph.

A top grade player won’t want to let his mates down, he’ll try and stay out there if he possibly can. That’s why we have independent medical assessors. They are there to ensure the players long term health takes precedence over short term glory.

In order for it not to penalise a team so badly for looking after the welfare of one of their own, the interchange for a player who comes off and subsequently fails an independent concussion test should be returned to the team for re-use. Just like a blood bin is a free interchange, a concussion interchange should be too.

As well, each team should have one emergency player each in the number 18 jersey who can replace a player ruled out with concussion. This change will make it far less likely for a player to try and play on after a bad head knock.

Further, if the NRL is really serious about taking concussion seriously it should introduce the mandatory wearing of headgear for all players. While headgear will not stop all incidents of concussion it will surely lessen their number and intensity.

It is possible that if both Sam Tagatese and Alex Glenn had been wearing headgear when their heads clashed that Glenn may have been ok to keep playing. Further, it would be a great example to set for all the junior players.

However, it will have to be an NRL mandate for this change to happen because I can guarantee you that a great number of players prioritise their hairstyles over protecting their brains in the long term.