Sorry Mary, it is the ref's fault – just not the refs you might think

I for one, am enjoying the NRL this year. The refs enforce the rules - big deal. And don't fall into the "speeding the game up" crap. The AFL became obsessed with speeding the game up and now they have a real problem. Once you move sport into the "entertainment industry", you run the real risk of trashing what it is that people like about sport. Are all games great? No - never have been and never will be. Is there an element of luck/chance - yes. And that includes officiating. Articles like this IMHO belong to the post game, we was robbed category.

Rugby league has a set of rules.Players either work within these guidelines or they don't. Referees are there to ensure firstly these rules are enforced, thus ensuring the game is played as it is intended. Coaches do their utmost to push these rule boundaries for advantage to the extent, their players break these rules. They get penalised ,and more so for continual breaches. Refs penalise ,and one blames the referees.Seriously. It's akin to a policeman catching som one for speeding 20 km over the limit in a 100 zone, but suggests to the drirver it's only 20% over the limit r not 50%.Your free to go. Flexibility you gotta love it.

It depends a bit on how the ref's and teams train. The referees train with the teams, particularly in the off season. If they are ref'ing with the same crack down approach at training, then yeah, teams and coaches fault. If they are being more relaxed in a training environment then coming out and cracking down on things in games, then it is on the ref's - or Greenberg who keeps changing the goal posts.

Agreed Barry, the penalties are hardly considered a "penalty" in the defense minds. Something needs to be done in order for the penalty to be considered to great a risk. Maybe something like if you kick a penalty goal, the ball is restarted like a drop out instead of the half way point so possession would potentially just stay 1 sided if you don't pull in line. Unfortunately even though, it is considered a crackdown I question alot of the legitimacy of these 'intentional' penalties. Something that harsh would absolutely have the media naming each ref as that games mvp. Another thought I had was that a tally acrues for each penalty in the 20 and at the end of the game a team gets a set of 6. So if you are down by 16 at full time, you have 4 sets of 6 to even it up.

I wish people would stop trying to solve the problem with more rules. The current rules are sufficient and just need to be firstly adhered to by the players instead of pretending that their job is to "game" the rules for an advantage. Secondly, the rules are there to be adjudicated by the ref. There is only one already existing rule that needs to be enforced and that is for players not playing in the spirit of the game. The refs need to identify the cynical penalties and not lump them with the other penalties. If they think the player purposely gave away a penalty, no warnings, just sin bin them. If they can't be sure, then penalise and warn them. There are teams that are good at slowing the play the ball down and its hard to identify, then there are teams that aren't good at it all and they are penalised more heavily eg Parra and the Titans. Parra are the team that are struggling the most with the new interpretations because they built their whole game around pushing the limits of the refs and this year it just isn't working. Look for a strong performance Thursday against the bunnies now that Greenberg has stupidly come out saying the blitz is over.

Then how do you reward a dominant attacking play? If the legs tackle was last ditch, then saving a try is reward enough. The attacking team deserve the advantage of having made a line break or of a dominant big bopper run up the middle. If you "reward" legs tackles here then you don't allow attacking teams to get a flow on.

I'm sorry guys, but I believe this new myth that somehow because the players in Origin are better than those in NRL games and therefore infringed less in game 1 is garbage. There were just as many opportunities to blow penalties for inside the 10, leaving the defensive line early, and holding down in the tackle as in any of the many games I've watched this season. The difference was that the refs were a more lenient and allowed more leeway in the interests of the game. This contributed to its being the best game I've watched for ages. The NRL has been my favourite sport for 20 years (since I moved to Australia from the UK) and I've held a season ticket for my favourite team for 15 of those; sadly many games this season have been almost unwatchable. In the last few years the refs have been managed such that they have more and more become the focal point of every game by their constantly interfering and controlling of every moment of play. They are there to support and facilitate the game, the game doesn't exist for their benefit.

Yeah, play out the current set, ref calls advantage penalty at the indescretion so both teams know when it occurred, and if they don’t score, they go back for the penalty option. Would probably only work in the red zone, but might help stop teams deliberately giving away penalties on the line to get a breather/get their line set. It might also result in more infringements in that original set, but if so, put them in the bin, they’ve been warned on the run and it doesn’t stop what attacking momentum a team already has with the penalty being blown at the time. I also like TB idea of restarting the tackle count on the run when there is a penalty without stopping play.

Rubbish Nat, as far as that is concerned 'They Were'! All I want is a fair adjudication with no bias e.g. Gomersall etc etc., I don't care who wins! As long as the game is allowed to flow with minimal pedantic and pathetic penalties, which should not be given and/or made to hold the game up or done with any bias! Yes, the refs should blow blatant penalties but, the game should not be stopped as often as it is now with these outrageous penalties! The way that the refs are doing it and especially in the game that you have mentioned (Bunnies vs Titans) where, I did say that the Titans deserved to win and I was blowing up about the referees, for their scandalous sin bins and penalties that they gave to the Bunnies (some were justified, especially that the Titans were laying and holding up play) which made this game the typical joke that we see week in and week out from the NRL comp!

Honestly TB. Discouraging the gang tackles is a start. Encourage and reward 1 on 1s call that a dominant tackle. I think coaches would give the wrestling away and teach good low tackle techniques to bring attackers down. It would curb the high tacking and get off loads happening, Ball promotion would be encouraged. You often need more than 2 blokes to stop the really big boys close to the line. if you do it you pay 6 more for wrestling with him to long.

I like the idea of changing the structure of penalties. I would like to see that for the vast majority of penalties the call is simply 'penalty, six again'. No stopping for a kick into touch, no having to wait for the players to line up, no option to kick for goal and most importantly, no chance for the defensive team to gain an advantage from giving away the penalty, by getting the chance to re-set their line. The only penalty that should be called differently is where the foul play results in the side receiving the penalty losing possession. In that case existing rules apply, except that sides can take the kick for line immediately, or take a quick tap, even if their team are not all behind the mark. I'm also wondering whether a sin bin in the 20 metre zone should also result in the following: The side receiving the penalty get to kick for goal and then also get the ball back for a tap on the opposition's 20 metre line. That would be a fair deterrent to foul play. But I'm not sure I'm across all the potential consequences. We have to be careful that we don;t skew the rules so much that the attacking side is basically guaranteed a try if they reach the opposition's 20.

MrJSquishy, “Let the game flow”. How exactly do you do that?" Answer: how SOO is refereed, simple! I don't think you understand or many (especially officials and referees) realise how that type of refereeing brings out the real skill, toughness of what the game of RL as a game is all about and what it was intended to be! Last Wednesday's game was a 'breath of fresh air' compared to the NRL comp games but and only 2 days later (Friday night footy) we went back to the usual infuriating and frustrating NRL comp and the usual refereeing nonsense and mistake riddled games of 20+ penalties per game! It's a very very very 'Simple Formula' and solution(s) if the refs can do it in SOO then why the bloody hell can't they do it in the NRL comp games also?

The solution would be to bin actual binnable offences with no warnings. If the teams can do okay with a man down, see how they go with 2 or 3 men down. The main issue with refs these days, is that they are seen to be trying to maintain the spectacle of the game, which means evening up penalty counts, giving teams penalty piggy backs to get them back into the game. They are seen more has game managers than refs. Refs should stick to penalising and issuing the appropriate penalties based on the offence. If the the first offence is a binnable offence, bin them, if the second and third are also binnable bin them. Don't try to maintain a semblance of balance because of the fear having too much of an impact on the game. No warnings.