LISTEN: It's time for another penalty crackdown in the NRL

The officials have a tough job. They are responsible for the enforcement of the rules and also to keep the game flowing and ensure a fair contest. Fans will always complain. Unfortunately coaches and players will always push the boundaries and look for an advantage. Right now they are under utilising the sin bin and over using the penalty try IMO. They need to stop the markers standing to the side and going early. The Roosters and JWH in particular is the perfect example of this. The first thing I would suggest rule wise is banning the prowler. Come in 3rd man and you can't touch the legs. The game has to reward one on one tackles and if a defender preforms one he should earn the right to get to marker within 5 sec. I'd also go as far as not adding to the tackle count of the attacking team when 3 defenders get involved. The wrestle is a part of defending but the 3 on 1 wrestle is a blight on the game. You can get 3 or more in a tackle but it cost you an extra tackle.

Perhaps we should look at the rule changes that have led to players having to hold down in the tackle. Is ten metres finally too far to get back? What if we went to 8 metres and penalised any wrestling? What about offensive players in front of the play the ball? If they all had to get back onside that would give more time for the defence to get onside as well. How about making a penalty 3 points inside the attacking 10m? No need for yellow cards or extra rules.

If you aren't penalised then you aren't breaking the rules, how can you apply a penalty retrospectively on a judgement decision of seconds?

I agree with your comments mate to an extent. I think the referees need a criteria in place of when to sin bin. Otherwise we just get more inconsistency. If a team gives away a penalty when defending their goal line (opposition inside the 20m line) the second penalty given away is an automatic sin bin. However if the attacking team score points (penalty goal or try) the sin binned player can come straight back onto the field. They use this idea in Ice hockey (NHL) and it works fantastically well. They call it power play. Most teams would chance their arm to go for the try which improves the spectacle for fans, teams deliberately giving away penalties to try to force teams to take 2 points can’t get away with the tactic anymore and it takes some pressure off the referees because it isn’t such a huge call to send a player for 10 whole minutes where teams can easily put a couple of tries on in that time taking the game out of reach.

In one way I'm lucky where I live, we don't get that sort of rubbish journalism here, John. That said, I understand your point, I just hadn't thought about it because again, it's not an issue in the north.

That's a new one, blame the tackled player, priceless.

Social media combined with the 24 hour news cycle tends to bring out the worst in people and some fans of the sport aren't immune the effects of social media. How they choose to critique their teams and how lazy journalists seem to gravitate towards trawling through social media to highlight only the most controversial posts (which are more often than not extremely negative) feeds the growing hunger for results.

Very valid points Paul !

I think it happens in all sports, Insider, especially at elite level. Participants and coaches push the rules to the absolute limits, often with disastrous results for that sport. Coaches & players somehow decided diving in soccer to gain a free kick but look where that's gone? They had to change the rules to allow lifting in lineouts in Rugby, the rules in Aussie Rules had to be changed this year because of coaches flooding tactics, even cricket in this country adopted a win at all costs attitude with much of the sledging it used to employ being right on the edge of breaching laws around the spirit of the game. All of these problems stemmed from different interpretations of various rules and while we have any rules, coaches in particular will look for an edge. Sadly that "edge" rarely results in the game being enhanced..

I don't think the average fan has changed a lot over the years John. We all want our respective teams to win, but it's only the most rusted on, die hard fan who would adopt a win at all costs viewpoint. It's also this same minority of fans who thinks the wrestling in tackles, the holding down, the forward passes, the ref whispering and the repeated infringements inside the 22 to prevent tries is acceptable. I'm sure the majority want good, open football with great attack & defence that coaches CAN give us. They don't have to push the rules so far that games become unwatchable. I for one would not criticize coaches for pulling back the boundaries and asking their players to operate within both the spirit and letter of the law.

Paul why doesn’t it happen in other sports? Other sports have clear rules, we have interpretations until such time as rules are adhered to we will always have controversy

Blame the fans, they're the ones demanding success and when that doesn't happen they demand the coaches be made accountable.

The coaches are the ones telling their guys what to do in all facets of the game, including how to take maximum advantage of the rules. If they are instigating much of the negative play we see nowadays, why shouldn't they be penalized? They don't have to play to have a huge influence on the game. I realize it's not happening now, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't.

Coaches ? There not the ones playing! It’s simple blow the whistle and give a penalty but they don’t the refs favour certain teams like melb , Roosters, Souths When was the last time a ref penalised melb for a ruck infringement? Yet every week fans see what the refs ignore

The refs are to blame, they control the game, in every game this year the refs have shown an unbalanced approach to adjudicating game we all see a perfect half from a side who also leads only to return in the second and fail to earn a penalty. That’s the refs not the NRL ( unless you believe in conspiracy theories)

The refs certainly aren't perfect, but the point is that the NRL deliberately pulled them back on it last year after what they claimed would be a long-term commitment to stamp it out. Can we not blame anyone other than the refs when they are being instructed not to call what they see?

The guys who need to be brought into line are the coaches. Refs are the easy targets when players break the games rules, but the reality is, they're coached to do so and more to the point, they're expected to break the rules. How many penalty tries have been given this year? How many teams have wrestling coaches? How many consecutive penalties are still given away in the 22 when the opposition's on attack? An option would be to bin not only a player for the sort of antics that are currently happening, but also the coach. Coaches should also be banned from coaching teams for X number of games if they're side is deemed to be persistently breaking the rules. If coaches are banned, try to do a Flanagan and are caught, they're out for half a season or more. Get tough with the coaches and the players will quickly fall into line.

Don’t blame anyone but the refs, they are in charge and if a player is offside don’t scream at them to stay out of it PENALISE IT, if a player runs a shepherd PENALISE IT, I could go on for days

Not excusing the Dogs, but Souths players contributed a lot too. There were many times in that game where Souths forwards were more interested in feigning that they couldn't get up in the hope of getting a penalty.

Completely escapes me why the NRL don't have all games re-watched on Monday and start issuing on the spot fines of $5000 to players/clubs who got away with deliberately breaking the rules and not playing in the spirit of the game. If the NRL did that, maybe next week the same player in the same situation actually plays to the rules.