Outrage over decisions

[wibble]

A fortnight ago the referees were pilloried from pillar to post for making the outrageously controversial call of following the rules. Slater scored from a failed drop kick, and didn't think he had scored as he dropped the ball. As it turns out, it was not a knock on, and the commentators and media screamed the house down about how poor the decision was.

This week, referees were "disgraceful" for ruling that a knock back was actually a ...knock back, and for ruling a defender without the ball can be penalised for grabbing an attacking player. But the best of all was that this week we had the "worst decision ever". A pretty soft but regulation interference in the ruck penalty was....enforced. And that was the worst decision ever?

OK, there were some red herrings in that decision. After the penalty was conceded the attacking side scored a try. If they had knocked the ball on in the ruck no one would have blinked at the decision. If they passed it twice but then passed it into touch and received the penalty, some would be ropable they had already had their advantage. Advantage is a tricky part of the game, but I have never in my life seen "advantage" from a ruck penalty and I'm not sure why it should selectively have been applied in this one situation just because there was a nice pass.

There was also some delay and confusion between the referees in communicating the decision. Which happens routinely when the pocket ref makes a decision.

But the entire affair was completely unremarkable, except that some 3 passes later the Storm threw a great pass that would have resulted in a try if there wasn't a penalty called at the play the ball.

I get that fans can see decisions one way or another depending on their allegiances. I do that all the time. And I get that the media try to blow everything up into a story. The same media morons that blow up over these non events are the same sort of people who make "newsworthy" claims like "the Cowboys pack is the best ever" or "there are 5 or 6 better props in NSW than Fafita" just as click bait.

Maybe I'm getting grumpy in my old age. Commentators have always been rubbish and blown things out of proportion. It just seems at the moment we have "the worst commentators ever"...

 

[I Bleed Maroon]

"The worst commentators ever"

yeah pretty much.

There's a part of me that suspects they do it intentionally to give the 24 hour news cycle a good stir. They're in a powerful position of deciding where the narrative of the week goes, and shitting on the refs for a decision going a certain way is so easy, you could call it straight up intellectual laziness. They know the fans of the club on the poor end of that decision will inevitably blow up and give their comments credence, whether they deserve it or not.

As for the Slater try, if it is in the rulebook that it is permitted to do that, fine, but change the f**king rule. It's stupid.

 

[Chook Norris]

The NRL has to have some of the worst fans out there with their unlimited capacity to whinge.

What shocks me, however, is how stupid certain commentators are as well as the TV Stations themselves (channel 9 in particular). Do they not realise that the more they whinge and harp on about decisions on TV, the more they create a negative viewing experience and the greater the number of viewers who switch off?

Johns and Gould are absolute masters of getting masses to switch off. The quicker Channel 9 pisses these guys off, the quicker people will actually enjoy watching NRL on FTA.

 

[gregstar]

I’m outraged.

And I’m outraged at being outraged.

Furthermore, I’m outraged at having to be outraged at being outraged.

It’s f**king outrageous.

 

[OzDragon]

A lot of NRL “experts” (lol) bemoan the over analysing of the game. They then go and over analyse ref decisions and stamp their feet after the game.

Also, “Great round of footy” won’t sell as many papers/get as many clicks as “NRL in crisis”

 

[OzDragon]

I’m outraged.

And I’m outraged at being outraged.

Furthermore, I’m outraged at having to be outraged at being outraged.

It’s f**king outrageous.

 

[gregstar]

The refereeing has been crap. Just as it is every year.

More cameras, more commentary hyperbole, more money at stake - more pressure & more scapegoats needed.

 

[wibble]

The refereeing has been crap. Just as it is every year.

More cameras, more commentary hyperbole, more money at stake - more pressure & more scapegoats needed.

The footy has been crap. Not all of it, your mob are worth feeding.

Seems to me the referees are more consistent and better than most the teams. I'm not real impressed with the refereeing, but they aren't the ones making the most mistakes or contributing most to poor spectacles.

 

[gregstar]

They’re under more scrutiny every season.

As jack Gibson said, good teams beat bad decisions.

And as he said when his team at the time (I think it was Souths) was beaten on the bell by a contentious referee call, “we had the other 79 minutes to win that game so we can’t blame one.”

 

[wibble]

"The worst commentators ever"

yeah pretty much.

There's a part of me that suspects they do it intentionally to give the 24 hour news cycle a good stir. They're in a powerful position of deciding where the narrative of the week goes, and shitting on the refs for a decision going a certain way is so easy, you could call it straight up intellectual laziness. They know the fans of the club on the poor end of that decision will inevitably blow up and give their comments credence, whether they deserve it or not.

As for the Slater try, if it is in the rulebook that it is permitted to do that, fine, but change the f**king rule. It's stupid.

I agree that it is intellectual laziness.

My daughter makes extreme snap judgements. A day when she is denied an ice cream is the worst ever. When she sees a class mate at the park they become her best friend ever. But she is 5.

For someone who we can only assume is paid decent coin to provide some level of clever analysis to stoop to a 5 year old's level of hyperbole, it is either laziness or a deliberate ploy to fire us up by treating us like fools.

It makes their "analysis" very difficult to pay credence to.

I guess it means we should value the decent analysis when we find it even more, as it is a rare treasure.

 

[The_Shield]

The commentators are the biggest problem here. They go on and on about the smallest little insignificant errors, Anasta is the worst for it and Gus, Vossy is right up there as well. I was pissed at the refs on Sunday but you know now that I’ve cooled down, the refs didn’t cost Melbourne that game. The Storm were awful and deserved to lose. I’m more upset with the way some of our players played, Smith, Slater, NAS in particular were terrible and the effort just wasn’t there from the whole team

 

[Chook Norris]

A lot of NRL “experts” (lol) bemoan the over analysing of the game. They then go and over analyse ref decisions and stamp their feet after the game.

Someone needs to start a thread on some of the great NRL hypocrisies we hear.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

 

[Springs09]

What probably annoys me most about the commentators is why didn't they ever referee themselves? If they are the experts they think they are, wouldn't they have been the best candidates for referees? But I suppose sitting in a box twice a week and whinging is a lot easier. Even so, I'd say Gus has pissed more RL fans off than all refs combined in the last 15 years.

It's the same with most of the fans. One I keep hearing is 'the referees don't have a feel for the game', and you do? Well go ref then! And the calls to sack this ref or that ref - where are these new refs going to come from exactly? There aren't any gun refs out in the sticks waiting to be given a shot at the big time. Everywhere struggles for referees and a major reason is the abuse they cop. I've had to put my hand up to ref or run lines for 2 or 3 games before playing on Sundays now.

One thing I'm okay with is the outrage over video refs/bunker shit. Should never be getting decisions wrong after looking at it for 2 minutes. Get rid of it for everything but groundings.

 

[Captain Apollo]

As an ex-referee the only one I had areal problem with when I saw it was the Addo-Carr no try decision. Whilst there was an infringement at the play the ball by the defending team, the ball was played correctly and a try was scored. The greatest advantage to Melbourne was the try, and the basic tenant all referees are educated in from the very start is to play the advantage and not blow the whistle straight away. By the pocket referee insisting on the penalty at the time he did, he was doing the 100% complete opposite of playing the advantage, hence why he should be corrected for getting that one wrong. The advantage rule is one the biggest things we have in rugby league that tries to ensure a freer flowing game as there are only a few exceptions in the rugby league rule book where it is not to be applied.

That said the carry on by the commentator is nauseating at times about mistakes. They expect all officials to be perfect which is something you will never get because referees are only human themselves. Hell when I refereed I made some blunders too, but you try to learn from them (in the long run) whilst not dwelling on them (in the short run) otherwise you wind up second guessing yourself all the time and your confidence goes to hell.

 

[Card Shark]

Seems to me the referees are more consistent and better than most the teams. I'm not real impressed with the refereeing, but they aren't the ones making the most mistakes or contributing most to poor spectacles.

This.

That’s what I most hate about Ricky Stuart when he gets in a rant...he forgets his team played crap too.

With Dean Pay, his team were the better team & were overall hard done by (except final decision was MBye’s fault - he left the refs no choice).

 

[gUt]

Nothing is as boring as ref bashing. It's one thing when the fans do it on a forum like this, another when 'journalists' have a whinge on Twitter, and something else again when commentators see their wagers going down the drain and take it out on the refs.

It's be great if commentators were suspended like everyone else in the game for getting shit wrong. Anasta would end up calling about 4 games per season.

 

[some11]

I thought it was just me.

NRL media have definitely capitalised on outrage culture this year.

 

[gUt]

Well they've had to ramp it up because the players have largely been behaving themselves by all appearances.

Take out the genuine drama of Lodge and now Bolton and what else has there been to scream #crisis over?

 

[Saxon]

What really annoys me is the cadre of commentators led by Gould/Johns who believe that they own the game and that what they want is right.

The refs crack down on an area and there are instant whines of "spoiling the game". They think that rules should be enforced unless they shouldn't. They go on ad-nauseum about how the game should "flow", regardless of infringements or downright cheating. And the constant berating of the refs for indiscretions real and imagined is nauseating.

Johns should be more like Sterling and stick to expert comments - which he is really good at. I'm sick to f*ckin' death of that merkin Gould constantly pushing his own agenda and talking the game down - he can f*ck right off. His whiney bitching on Sunday about kicking too many penalty goals was risible.

Fox are slightly better, and the ABC better still. If Nein didn't cleverly delay their broadcast a few seconds so the radio call is out of sync, I would happily turn Gus down and never have to listen to his bullshit again.