When a player is tackled in the NRL and the referee calls held, the defender needs to let go. It’s that simple.
But now we have the situation where the referee is calling “held”, then another second or so later bellowing “release” and only then are the smart, well-coached defenders finally letting go.
If you have a look at a tackle closely when there’s two or three defenders involved, the one who is last out of the contact that’s going to be marker is locking onto the ball to buy their team some extra time to reset their defensive line.
In the old vernacular, a “held” call from the ref meant you had to release the tackled player and allow them to play the ball.
It may not sound like much but that extra second or second and a half is a massive benefit to a defending team to get back the 10 and be ready to get off the line hard on the next play.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
As an avid watcher of the game, like everyone else, it’s so frustrating to see this continually happen.
It’s yet another example of one of the many rule changes and tweaks that have been made in recent years that have complicated the game.
The last thing the NRL needs is more rule changes.
What it needs to do is simplify the game for the players, the coaches and the fans.
The smarter teams and the better coaches are using the language of the “held” and “release” calls and exploiting the other new rules to their benefit.
Having one referee was done around having less people making decisions after there was a lead ref and the pocket ref, I don’t know if we’ve totally solved that by having one.
There’s too much for one ref to keep their eye on at any given time in the game even with the help of the touch judges and the bunker, particularly with the combat in the play-the-ball, when the ref’s got to adjudicate on the 10 metres, forward passes, markers being square and a whole range of other areas.
Souths coach Jason Demetriou spoke about this central problem with refereeing at the moment after his team went down by a point in extra time to Cronulla last week when he questioned the speed of the play the ball against the Sharks strong on line defence, which has been outstanding this season.
Nicho Hynes celebrates. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
It’s a Craig Fitzgibbon trait that he’s brought to Cronulla this year. He was the defensive coach at the Roosters and in Origin with NSW and you can see his defensive influence at the Sharks.
He’s being smart with his tactics under the rules of the game and how they’re applied, which is what good coaches do.
Last year they were averaging more than 23 points conceded per game and that’s come way down to 16.4.
They look a lot fitter this year, I know they’ve changed up their strength and conditioning program and that’s really paid dividends.
A player like Matt Moylan, who has had a history of soft tissue injuries, looks more robust in 2022 than I’ve seen him at any point in his career and he’s been able to string together 19 games without missing any.
The Sharks have recruited well with Dale Finucane and Cameron McInnes bringing a no-nonsense high work rate to their pack in defence and Nicho Hynes pulling the strings in attack with Moylan.
Hynes had filled in at fullback, five-eighth, half and off the bench at Melbourne but they saw him as their No.7 and they’re getting the rewards for backing their decision.
Matt Moylan (Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
Cronulla’s spine with Will Kennedy and Blayke Brailey has been one of the best in the NRL this year but I don’t think too many people in the pre-season would have predicted those four guys to combine so well together and help get the team up to third on the ladder with five rounds to go.
They weren’t far off beating the Panthers a couple of weeks ago and they’ve beaten Melbourne and the Cowboys this year so they’ve shown they can compete with the top sides, which was a thorn in their side the past couple of years.
Cronulla have had a bit of luck with injuries and you need that if you want to go far in this comp. They’ve used the same 22 players for most of the season with only four other guys filling in here and there with one or two games each.
Can they go all the way? Penrith are still clearly the favourites even though Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai are going to be out until the finals.
But I can see the Sharks maybe sneaking into the Grand Final with the way they’re playing.
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.open('POST', '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', true); request.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded;'); request.onload = function () { if (this.status >= 200 && this.status
Latte Kid
Guest
Have been waiting for someone to say this. Spot on Michael. Many times a player's momentum is stopped, he's not going anywhere and when the defenders release the player passes the ball and it's play on. This is ridiculous and makes our game more like rugby union. When the ref call's held the defenders have to get off and the attacking player plays the ball. Also, the refs need to call held when a player has been stopped and refuses to get taken to the ground. When is a tackle a tackle and when is a player held ? This needs to be cleaned up, thanks Michael for highlighting this.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
The problem of holding down to slow the p-t-b has been with us since we adopted the four tackle rule from American Football in 1967. The issue of continuity is not important in AF as they create complex team moves that may result in a touchdown. In RL we have six tackles, five tackles of bash and barge to put us into a position to put up a bomb on the sixth. The reason for this is the bomb is the easy way to score a try as you have a good chance your tall wingers will mark the ball. There is also the problem of obstructions that come with the bomb. 1. The holding down comes from our obsession with continuity. RL could stop the clock and the wrestle and holding down would disappear. 2. In AF if they don't score but have progressed far enough downfield they can be rewarded by a field goal. RL would be better off taking the field goal as the only sixth tackle scoring option. 3. Having the value of a field goal dependent on field position should be removed.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
The two referees was a failure because it broke the golden rule that the ref is always right and their ruling is final. The 2019 grand final was ruined by the second referee overruling the six again call by the first referee even though there was no signal to let the players know. The touch judges and video refs are sufficient.
matth
Roar Guru
Ross Strudwick. As always The Rat was ahead of the game.
JennyFromPenny
Guest
Using players names has always been cringeworthy. Worst it got was the first name basis whenever Harrigan wanted to ask SonnyBill something or other game after game.
Ass f ace
Guest
Diddums
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
We were a pretty smart footy club
Greg
Roar Pro
I don't have too much of an issue with the release call. It's probably a little redundant having to have the two calls but it doesn't really bother me. The thing that irks me with players holding on is the defenders taking the attacking player to the ground after the held call.
JennyFromPenny
Guest
Could be as easy of getting rid of the guideline that says a dominant tackle means you are allowed to stay on the tackled player longer. Panthers without doubt, focus on getting as many dominants as possible. Allows them to legally slow down the play, but who ever made the decision that finishing on top, means you can take you time getting off ?
mushi
Roar Guru
I figured our chances were good when Fittler was named coach
mushi
Roar Guru
Hard to argue the storm angle. It seems NAS will need to kill someone and their family to get 4 weeks
Nathan Absalom
Roar Guru
The flop has really made a comeback the last few years, hasn't it? It's not so much that the player flops after the tackled is completed, it's that they're allowed to stay there for yonks afterwards that drives me nuts.
matth
Roar Guru
There was a funny one. In the late 1980’s the BRL trial led a return to unlimited tackles in a preseason game. Valleys scored and then just ran one out and held the ball until the game finished.
Larry1950
Guest
Half the problems seem to be caused by the more recent obsession with individual player’s data & stats. Followed the yanks down this rabbit hole for spurious reasons in my opinion. One quick fix to the slow ruck & recent spate of injuries would be for the refs to call “held, play the ball” as soon as a tackled player turns his back & advances towards the opposition try line. It irks me that this so called key stat of ‘post contact metres’ is almost always gained by big slugs walking backwards, that’s not our game, get it out of the game now & we’ve got a better spectacle. The third man in only does that tackle because these big guys just keep walking backwards towards the try line & the refs just let it drag on for ages.
Succhi
Roar Rookie
Held get off!should be enough, or “held, x tackle.” I hate it when a player is looking at the ref waiting for him to say “get off” or “release.” Refs shouldn’t be telling players what to do and when. I also detest the fact that refs use players names - how much time must they spend studying these - perhaps spend more time on studying forward passes or other aspects of the game? Call the player by the number of their back! Are we afraid that the player won’t know who they are? And get the touchies to do something! Anything will do!
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
I’m old enough to remember Frank Hyde going ballistic about players walking off the mark.Somethings change and somethings remain the same
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
Those sort of crackdowns last about 2 weeks then all the whining from the Media comes up -about ruining the game,so the Refs get pressured to ease up from HQ.So we go back to the same old same old . You see It’s just like the Seasons - Spring follows Winter then Summer comes along, then the next thing you know your back at Winter.
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
Don your paddling Buddy , most of the Guys you’ve named are not in the same class as JWH ,NAS and Burgess . Sure they may think there tough guys or they have Form from years ago(Fafita ,Moose), but most are Wannabes without crossing the line.You may be confusing petulance and niggle with downright nasty thuggery
soapit
Roar Guru
havent kept an eye on it for a while but it seems when the tacklers release from a 3 man tackle they are allowed to do it one at a time, the second doesnt move until the first is off and so on. getting them all to clear at the same time would help a lot and fairly simple id have thought.
RedcliffeFan
Roar Rookie
What has Fifita done????