the laying down seemed worse then usual yesterday because it happened so often and the dives were so exaggerated. but lets be serious, its a game issue as opposed to a dragons issue.
league used to be about being tough and getting to your feet no matter how hurt you were. we used to pride ourselves on being the toughest sport in the world. stories like sattlers broken jaw spoken about in legend, something no other sport could match. we laughed at soccers divers and at AFLs pathetic 'melee's.'
these days we are just as bad if not worse then soccer. seeing nightingale kicking out in the tackle trying to get to his feet, then grabbing his forehead in agony, however quickly realising he is playing for a crusher penalty and not a head high so then grabbing his neck, was beyond embarrassing. as was adam reynolds staying down, deciding to get up, but then have paul carter run over and tell him to stay down so they could check for a penalty.
these are just examples but every team is doing it. i partly blame the referees too. if they pulled up blatant high tackles a lot of players wouldnt have to stay down. the amount of times we see a player stay down, its looked at on replay only to see him get collected flush in the head is ridiclous. the referees dont want to make a decision so are waiting to see if the players stay down and will allow the video to rule on it. all responsibility is taken off them.
we really need to say 'if the referees miss it bad luck.' it will put more responsibility on the refs to actually make a call and stop this embarssing diving that we see every game.
