Australia's refereeing system is very quickly ruining the game here. I don't blame the individual refs themselves, as it's across the whole competition. When we don't ref to the rules then coaches are going to exploit those rules. Luke Lewis on NRL360 admitted that they practice 'cheating', continually holding down close to the line, rushing up without care for being offside, not playing with the foot etc. If someone holds on in a legs tackle for 2 seconds they are penalised, while if three players catch and hold the ball-runner, then after 5 seconds another player comes in and takes the legs just as they are called held, then all 4 get up slowly one-by-one since they've wrestled themselves around the ball and the whole damn ruck takes 20 seconds - that's okay. This has lead to negative play dominating the game, it's little wonder we see so little play like in the NZ v Tonga game in the NRL.
And it's not hard to fix. Speed up the ruck? Go back to the old count to whatever then penalise if they don't get off, including on the tryline. Players will complain that they are caught or tangled but they will learn not to get tangled pretty quick. Play-the-ball a bit fast? Penalise players that don't get to their feet or play it without using their foot, as well as those that move off the mark and take out the markers. Too many penalties on the tryline? Sin bin deliberate penalties, I don't know why refs seem to not know what a professional foul is. I heard a ref tell a captain this year 'no more deliberate ones'.
Who cares if we have 40 penalties a game for the first 3 rounds, coaches will catch on. The NRL seem to be scared of pissing off coaches.
While saying that, a few English refs have been individually very poor, especially with the Australian games. Why they favour Australia and tolerate their negative shit while penalising France and Lebanon for any little thing is beyond me.
There's no reason why there can't be one set of rules worldwide. The NRL seems to think it's its own sport. These rules + golden point + the bunker almost make it a different sport to the rest of rugby league, including in Australia.
