You test the limits’ - Klemmer says players will target ruck under one-Referee system:
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...m/news-story/8ff18dc5d3bb1e937629a32fee4235da
Billy Slater reveals the major frustration that will be solved with NRL's one-Referee rule:
https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/billy-...e-change/0890ad23-f918-4bb7-bd0d-0f65b6aba0aa
From the Daily Telegraph,
NRL aims to eliminate wrestling and will save $3 million in process
Rugby league boss Peter V’Landys is determined to eliminate the “biggest blight on the game” and the NRL will save $3 million in the process.
Peter V’landys isn’t about to be swayed by the concerns of coaches that reverting to one referee will be another win for ugly wrestling tactics.
The move will save the NRL in the vicinity of $3 million and the ARL Commission chairman also pointed out that the two-referee system used for the past decade hadn’t eliminated wrestling.
“Everyone tells me the greatest blight on the game is the wrestle. Well, two referees hasn’t stopped it,” V’landys said.
V’landys said the introduction of the six-again rule in conjunction with one referee would provide a huge deterrent to wrestling.
The six-again rule was trialled in an All Stars game in 2012 and received considerable support. It allows a referee to restart a tackle count at any point if there is a ruck infringement.
The idea will be thrashed out further on Monday at a meeting involving some of the game’s best football brains, including Michael Maguire, Trent Robinson, Cooper Cronk, leading referee Matt Cecchin and RLPA boss Clint Newton, as well as NRL head of football Graham Annesley and commissioner Wayne Pearce.
It will then be put to the commission to sign off on and is expected to get the green light despite the controversy it has caused.
Reverting to one referee is a proposal Annesley put forward last week. And the former top whistleblower doesn’t believe that blindly taking advice from coaches is always best practice when determining the rules of the game.
“Wayne Bennett said at the Apollo meeting on Friday, and Wayne has said this to me on many occasions over the years, ‘Why do you guys let the coaches have so much say? Our job is to coach, your job is to come up with the rules’,” Annesley said.
“And he always says to me that coaches will always try to manipulate it to their own advantage. And it is true. We might have coaches blowing up but it is a very, very unique year, and this does present us with an opportunity.”
V’landys added: “Don’t forget you have still got two touch judges, you have got a referee in the grandstand and two in the bunker. How many referees do we need?
“I totally support it. There are just too many referees and we have to cut expenses.”
Asked how much it could save the game, V’landys said: “Over a season, probably two to three million. It is a lot of money.”
Annesley is confident the referees will quickly adjust and perform at an acceptable standard despite the short notice.
“Of course they can,’’ Annesley said. “They are professional and they do it in international games anyway.
“I know there are going to be people blowing up. But it is a divided issue. There are people out there who for many years have been saying we should go back to one referee.
“I think what this will help do is resolve it once and for all whether one or two (referees) is the right answer.
“Every time we play international games and people see one referee, they say, ‘you know, what was the problem with one referee?’
“The one thing we know is that whether we have one referee, two or 10, there is still going to be refereeing controversy. But one of the things people complain about with two referees is that there is too much inconsistency between one referee and the other.
“And they think the two referees on the field does have a negative impact on the game.
“I have a responsibility for us to make sure that we live within our means this year as a member of the executive and we all have to look where we can cut some costs.
“But I also have a responsibility to make sure we do that in a way that is not going to have a negative impact on the game. I don’t know the answer. My point is we are going to find out.”
