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Melbourne Storm skipper slams two refs system
By Russell Gould
March 05, 2009 Melbourne Storm captain Cameron Smith has blasted the two referee system that will operate in the NRL this season, declaring it would do more harm than good.
Smith has played two pre-season matches with two whistle-blowers and said it hadn't achieved the NRL's aim of making the game faster.
Instead he said there were more penalties, the game was becoming stop-start and fans would not be happy with the product the new system was producing.
"I don't like to be negative when people try and implement things in our game maybe to try and make it better, but so far in the two games I have played, I haven't seen a single positive come out of having two refs on the field," Smith said.
"I think it is (a concern) for the game. I know there is a lot of people throwing their support behind it, but in the trials that we have played it has become a totally different game.
"They said the two referees would make the game faster and more enjoyable for the fans. But at the moment we are seeing penalty after penalty. It's a stop-start game now where rugby league is meant to be free-flowing.
"Six weeks in to the competition I don't think fans are going to enjoy watching for the first half-hour of the game 15 penalties being blown."
The system has raised the eyebrows of many coaches this pre-season, including Storm's Craig Bellamy and Gold Coast's John Cartwright, who also noticed increased penalty counts.
Statistics back up their concerns, with an average two more penalties a match than in last season's trial games.
Dead set Cam Smith vs Paul Gallen would be one hell of a whinge match!!!! Neither of these characters are ever happy . . . . . guess i wouldnt be if i looked like a hangover all my life like ol smithy!!!
By Russell Gould
March 05, 2009 Melbourne Storm captain Cameron Smith has blasted the two referee system that will operate in the NRL this season, declaring it would do more harm than good.
Smith has played two pre-season matches with two whistle-blowers and said it hadn't achieved the NRL's aim of making the game faster.
Instead he said there were more penalties, the game was becoming stop-start and fans would not be happy with the product the new system was producing.
"I don't like to be negative when people try and implement things in our game maybe to try and make it better, but so far in the two games I have played, I haven't seen a single positive come out of having two refs on the field," Smith said.
"I think it is (a concern) for the game. I know there is a lot of people throwing their support behind it, but in the trials that we have played it has become a totally different game.
"They said the two referees would make the game faster and more enjoyable for the fans. But at the moment we are seeing penalty after penalty. It's a stop-start game now where rugby league is meant to be free-flowing.
"Six weeks in to the competition I don't think fans are going to enjoy watching for the first half-hour of the game 15 penalties being blown."
The system has raised the eyebrows of many coaches this pre-season, including Storm's Craig Bellamy and Gold Coast's John Cartwright, who also noticed increased penalty counts.
Statistics back up their concerns, with an average two more penalties a match than in last season's trial games.
Dead set Cam Smith vs Paul Gallen would be one hell of a whinge match!!!! Neither of these characters are ever happy . . . . . guess i wouldnt be if i looked like a hangover all my life like ol smithy!!!
