The opening week of NRL trials are done and what we learned about our teams is almost certainly questionable, as the days continue to count down briskly towards the March 10 kick-off.
While fans will be watching the next phase of trials closely, their minds will be more acutely tuned to the start of the home and away season, how individual teams will line-up and the way the game will look after the new tweak to the six-again rule.
It wont take long for some to be irate, crying for justice and cynical about certain aspects of the competition, yet at least a portion of such sentiment could be alleviated if four obvious frustrations were addressed by the Australian Rugby League Commission.
1 Apply a consistent standard from Round 1
It is as obvious as the proverbial nose on your face that refereeing interpretations and the sharpness of focus they place on different aspects of the game, alter throughout a typical NRL season.
We have seen a few “crack-downs” in recent times, whether it be adjudicating high contact, the application of the ten-metre rule or the threshold used to determine when sin-bin and send-off powers should be used.
The moving of goal posts mid-season actually annoys fans more than an interpretation with which they merely disagree. When an offence committed and unpunished suddenly brings down the weight of the law two weeks later, the true definition of inconsistency sees the game’s officialdom at a point bordering on farce.
Lay out clear standards and expectations, apply them during Round 1 and continue to do so for the entire season, particularly in the finals’ series.
Even if some fans disagree with the interpretation being used to inform a decision, the fact that it remains intact without variation will eventually earn their acceptance of it and stop at least some of the furore that transpires when the paying fan loses an understanding of just what constitutes an infringement of the rules.
2/ Tell the whistle-blowers to be quiet
A bugbear of many is the constant chatter that emanates from the mouths of referees during NRL matches.
Shouting towards and warning off-side players of a potential penalty from many metres away, naming and shaming ‘dominant’ and ‘surrender’ tackles, as well as the rather head scratching use of the word ‘moooooove’ to encourage players to clear the ruck area, are all somewhere near the top of the hit lists of those hoping for less verbal referees.
A little tip for the men and women in fluoro.
Rugby league players know they are off-side, they are attempting to be so. Many are constantly trying to milk penalties and all have no intention whatsoever of clearing the ruck area until they have pushed your patience to within a millimetre of breaking point.
So it might be best to simply cease the chummy first name based conversations and just apply the rules of the game as they stand. If you could also do it relatively quietly, that would be appreciated.
3/ Admit that club trainers are blatantly cheating and keep them off the field
Whilst cognisant of the potentially serious repercussions of head injuries and concussion and the fact that doctors, physiotherapists and trainers do a brilliant job when a player is in desperate need of attention during play, the constant presence of a 14th man in and behind attacking structures and defensive lines is nothing but a blight on the game.
All clubs do it; some relying on a talented and skilled ex-player to help guide younger men as they develop better game sense and positional understanding.
Water bottle in hand, the trainers zip on and off the field, running messages, giving instructions and even occupying visual space that could easily be interpreted as changing the field of vision of the opposition.
The game would be far better off without their excessive involvement and their work should be restricted to interaction with players actually in distress and not merely the ear that a coach needs to be ‘in’ at that precise moment.
4/ Stop the Bunker playing with technology
The NRL will have its first debate around downward pressure and/or the grounding of the ball during the act of attempting to score a try in the opening fixture of the season.
The Bunker will be called upon to adjudicate and most likely, as is usually the case, get the decision right.
However, despite an obvious recent attempt to make the entire process of reviewing key moments in the game quicker, officialdom still watched thousands of slow motion replays in 2021; often flipping back and forth between frames multiple times with the average fan sometimes left wondering exactly why.
It is the most inane aspect of rugby league and one easily solved with a simple strategy. Allow the Bunker to view each available angle once, at fifty per cent of normal speed and then make a decision. Should the facts remain unclear, defer back to the on-field call, as has now become the norm in the game.
Of course, rugby league is far from a perfect science and controversy will not be far away. However, I would argue that the four issues raised above are considered both important by many fans and capable of improving the competition were they to be acted upon.
I want be holding my breath but live forever hopeful.
Dave
Guest
For players mainly to a lesser degree commentators and fans watching the game I just know from playing myself, a referee that is vocal and communicates well, even if there is a bit of in-game coaching involved, is far more likely to be a better referee and the game is far more likely to be enjoyable than one tat isn't
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
AFL have the bigger ear of the governments. 1. I don't know about that but the media in Adelaide see RL as competition. They didn't print Sydney RL results whereas in Sydney the SANFL and WAFL results were in the papers and the VFL match of the day was shown live. I lived in Adelaide for a couple of years and I had to phone home to get the results. The only time there was a Rugby League story it was about a Sydney game abandoned by the referee after the crowd rioted and invaded the pitch. It was a lie and all that happened was a Wests v Manly game contained some brawling players who were penalised by the referee. What sort of journalist would run a story that could be shown to be false? One who was scared of Rugby League gaining a foothold. 2. I look forward to your replies. 3. What did you think of the AF played on a rectangular game. Will it take over the world?
Greg
Roar Pro
can get behind 1 and 3. Cannot support 2 and 4
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
1. Plenty of people like both Union and League and many don't mind AF. 2. RL is expanding around the world with no more bans by RU and Tonga have beaten Australia. Rugby is a religion in NZ but some do play RL very well. 3. Victoria was started by English free settlers who didn't want to live in a state run by sons of convicts, especially the Scots who were more hardened convicts than the rest of Sydney who were deported for small things like riding a horse through a village while naked and drunk. Victoria was built by scaredy cats who invented their own game so they wouldn't have to play NSW and Qld.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
1. RL is the national sport of PNG. It is popular in the many Pacific Island countries as is Rugby Union. The AFL tried unsuccessfully to get into NZ. 2. AFL have bigger crowds and a bigger TV deal but RL also show ESL games from England and France. All NRL games are shown live as they are played at different times. 3. Gambling is an addiction but RL is not dependent it. That’s the fact.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
The inferiority complex of the mexicans is alive Who is Australians only credible opposition in the AFL world cup? The game so great it hasn't caught on past Bendigo and Broome. How many indigenous players will get racially abused by fans this season?
Horses for courses
Guest
Lol, because being popular in Mudgee is the yardstick of success. AFL players in front of bigger crowds, have a bigger TV deal, have the bigger ear of the governments, players get paid more, clubs actually own assets and are solvent. They aren't dependent on people like you putting their paycheques into poker machines to survive. Yeah, not a major sport at all. League teams by and large play in decrepit suburban grounds, in front of sweet f all people, for less money. And as I said, need people like you putting money in the pokies, because if not, they'd all declare bankruptcy within a month. That's the fact. If you are saying something in major because they run in tinpot world cup where the only credible opposition is NZ and the next best is made up of Australians with second passports, then you have issues. but look who I'm talking to? Some flog who reckons Phil Gould is the saviour of rugby league.
matth
Roar Guru
Given Reynolds is a very experienced, premiership winning representative player, will we at some point see him turn around and tell Alfie to butt out? I hope so.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
I said major sport Being big in Shepparton and Glenelg doesn't make it major
Horses for courses
Guest
Because much like when a cop beats up a black man and their camera mysteriously "wasn't working", the trainers microphones will be mysteriously "not working" when on the field.
Horses for courses
Guest
AFL...
Horses for courses
Guest
The fact that you haven't included Phil Gould speaks volumes about your intelligence....
Sean
Guest
Why can't there be a rule that any trainer that any trainer going on the field must be miked up. Every conversation is transparent and if they deviate away from actual medical issues and peak tacticly then they get removed from the game and suspended. They won't do it twice.
Albo
Roar Rookie
100%. Trainers should not enter the field of play unless invited on by the refereee. You wonder just how the game had survived for a century before trainers started invading the field ?
RLFan
Roar Rookie
Good idea, it would also give the Touchies something to do, and the 10m offside rule was consistently ignored by the Referees.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Especially Dan Ginnane ! :angry:
mushi
Roar Guru
The players they're refereeing.
3 R M
Guest
Isn't that how it used to be? one touchie takes the defensive line one on the play the ball and you would expect if they are all in communication the reff would know what's going on when something happens . As for the 9/10 idea like any thing if it's consistant it's fair Stuart . What do you reckon those figures represent is the finals a battle between the teams that were offside the most at the most important times during the season.(I think this is partly true )or the reffs laid off for the spectacle.The top 5 were very good in attack last season and that's why they got to the finals but the rush defence is a big part as well. These guys are apparently covering 12 metres from a standing start and they are 115 kgs they are on the 1st receiver as he gets the ball behind the advantage line in the time takes the ball to clear the ruck.
Rellum
Roar Guru
So nothing to do with the actual football then?
jamesb
Roar Guru
I would have number 3 as my number 1. Having trainers on the field is a blatant way of cheating. Trainers should only come on when there is a stoppage in play. Roosters trainer in the GF should not have been on the field in that particular moment.