Throwing the ball at the player in the ruck

[SpaceMonkey]

You can’t lie in the ruck and make no effort to get out. Smith can pass the ball where ever he likes, if it hits an offside defender than it’s a penalty.

He can PASS wherever he likes. A pass is an attempt to throw the ball to a teammate. Pegging the ball at an opponent isn’t a pass.

 

[nick87]

The answer is easier- the pass has to be a genuine attempt to pass the ball to a teammate. If it hits a loitering defender then penalty as that defender is obstructing play But when it’s blindly obvious that there is no intention to pass to anyone and the ball is just being pegged at a defender who is attempting to lay prone and out of play to milk the penalty then the penalty should be reversed for milking.

Perfect
That’s definitely not going to result in any inconsistencies

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Perfect
That’s definitely not going to result in any inconsistencies

Better to have a few inconsistencies than obvious cynical milking of penalties. It at least puts an onus in the player throwing the pass to make it look like it’s a genuine attempt.

 

[Munted]

It's basically cam Smith, will Smith and that dopey merkin milk ford.
They should get some kind of misconduct / un sportsmanship letter, shame them and put them on notice.
It is embarrassing.

 

[Iafeta]

You can’t lie in the ruck and make no effort to get out. Smith can pass the ball where ever he likes, if it hits an offside defender than it’s a penalty.

Something needs to be done. I remember when footballers started diving. It took too long before anyone tried to stop it.

It’s the same thing. Poor sportsmanship

 

[thorson1987]

The answer is easier- the pass has to be a genuine attempt to pass the ball to a teammate. If it hits a loitering defender then penalty as that defender is obstructing play But when it’s blindly obvious that there is no intention to pass to anyone and the ball is just being pegged at a defender who is attempting to lay prone and out of play to milk the penalty then the penalty should be reversed for milking.

This.

 

[no name]

Err the refs are calling the rules, do you want them to make up their own rules if they see things they don’t like? It’s up to the nrl to change the rule book not the refs lol

Err I’m talking about Sutton, the head of the refs.
He watches over games and should have picked up that this is a blight on the game ages ago and done something about it.

 

[firechild]

I quite enjoyed watching James Segeyaro attempt something similar last week only to miss the player and throw the ball over the sideline. His karma was a little more immediate than Smith's.

 

[nick87]

I quite enjoyed watching James Segeyaro attempt something similar last week only to miss the player and throw the ball over the sideline. His karma was a little more immediate than Smith's.

Smelliot suckered him in beautifully
That’s the sort of sneaky soap dodging type shit you would expect from the poms

It was wonderful haha

 

[MilkShark]

He can PASS wherever he likes. A pass is an attempt to throw the ball to a teammate. Pegging the ball at an opponent isn’t a pass.

He can do whatever he wants with the ball as long as it goes backwards.

 

[blaza88z]

I think it's pretty obvious to see when it's a genuine attempt to pass and when they're trying to milk, the Will Smith one was as bad as I have seen, I think they will alter the rule or start adjudicating on it differently now as a result of how bad that looked, he was on the ground ffs

 

[Slackboy72]

Personally I think that as long as an effort has been made to clear the ruck then it should be play on but I do see a lot of tacklers who deliberately get in the way to impede the dummy half more than I see this.

But the problem is we need a black and white rule.

 

[firechild]

Players can't just disappear. There have been plenty of instances where players have made a genuine attempt to have as little impact on the play as possible - Luke was a perfect example, he rolled away so that the ball didn't hit him even though Smith had deliberately allowed it to roll clear of the ruck. Smith then made a second effort to bring Luke into play.
I remember Cam Smith doing something similar last year expecting a penalty but the ref allowed play to continue. This is exactly what should happen when the dummy half is milking.

 

[JJ]

Late in the penalty count they are always going to try and milk - especially when the refs have become so whistle happy

I don't see how the refs can make a judgement on intent - Will Smith's was obvious, and in a way glad he got away with it, as the sham passes EVERY other dummy half has made are as bad...

Players are just looking to milk any opportunity they can - Tariq Sims' one on the weekend was awful - at the end of the day rather than change their behaviour in response to the whistle blowing they're simply trying to highlight the opposition and draw penalties... 'professionalism' as it were - a lot of feigning as per soccer, and a lot more goal kicking as per union... they should be taking every 2 pts on offer at the moment