Bulldogs on mission to alter the law
Stuart Honeysett | March 25, 2009
Article from: The Australian
THE Bulldogs have called for an overhaul of the NRL's interchange rules after indicating they would appeal against a decision to strip the club of two competition points for fielding 14 men during their thrilling win over Penrith.
The league yesterday issued the club with a breach notice which includes the two-point penalty after its captain Andrew Ryan returned to the field last Saturday night to cover for hooker Michael Ennis who was down in back play.
The club has until next Wednesday to respond to the notice at which stage the points will be taken away and can only be reinstated if the club is successful in its appeal.
Ryan had already been interchanged for half Ben Roberts but rejoined the attacking line after allegedly being called back into play by trainer Tony Ayoub.
The Bulldogs shifted the ball wide for Roberts to score in the corner to help set up a 28-26 win and put them on top of the competition table.
Although Ryan was not involved in the movement, the league believed Penrith was disadvantaged because it should have only been defending against 12 men when the Bulldogs attacked their line.
After indicating the club intended to appeal on the grounds that the punishment was too severe, chief executive Todd Greenberg said the fact there had been five interchange bungles since 2000 suggested the NRL might need to fine-tune its system.
Of all the incidents, only two clubs lost points - North Queensland for having 14 men on the field against Parramatta in 2000 while the Broncos had theirs reinstated on appeal for a similar offence against Wests Tigers in 2004.
Several alternatives were mooted yesterday, including players entering and exiting from the same side of the field to avoid confusion, or even the introduction of the gate system that is employed by the AFL.
"For us, we've got to concentrate on getting an appeal done but on the broader issue of whether the system is right, it does tend to happen every couple of years," Greenberg said. "Maybe it's time we sit down with the league and all clubs try to refine the process.
"Continual improvement is important and certainly in this case we're in trouble for it, but someone else will be in the future.
"The consequence of this is two competition points which seems like an extremely harsh penalty given the circumstances."
Ryan agreed with Greenberg, claiming he never knew he was the 14th man on the field after being asked to return.
"With a few minutes to go, we were behind at the time and I got told by the trainers to go off," Ryan said.
"I had no idea what was happening on the other side of the field and got told to go back on the field by the trainer.
"It was just business as usual. That happens many, many times in a game so I had no idea what was happening."
Ayoub, who won't face any sanctions from the club if he is found to be the culprit, didn't want to discuss the incident yesterday.
NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley rejected calls for an overhaul, claiming any changes to the system were impractical.
"Gates, boxes, the same side of the field ... any system that you can think of that requires the player coming off at the same point where the player goes on is going to result in a team playing with 12 temporarily, or the game being stopped until that interchange is affected.
"I would suggest to you most people would find those two options equally unattractive.
"There's absolutely nothing wrong with the system at all. It's not the first time a player has gone on without authority, but it's the first time we've had 14 players where a player has gone on from the far side of the field."
Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore said his main focus was to get the team prepared for Friday night's game against the Gold Coast at Skilled Stadium.
"It's happened. You can't change it so we've just got to get on with it," Moore said.
"We'll deal with the appeals process and do whatever we can there because from a fans' point of view we want to make sure we're showing that we're in there fighting."
* Manly chairman Scott Penn has conceded he and fellow co-owner Max Delmege might have to tip more money into the club if they are unsuccessful in appealing against a $100,000 fine from the NRL.
The league issued the club with a breach notice proposing a $100,000 fine for bringing the game into disrepute after several players misbehaved following the club's season launch.
Suspended fullback Brett Stewart will face Manly Local Court next month to answer a sexual assault charge while backrower Anthony Watmough was fined $10,000 for fighting with a club sponsor.
Penn has signed off on a letter signalling the club's intention to fight for a reduction in the fine.
"One-hundred-thousand dollars is a fairly steep penalty for any club to bear given the current financial world," Penn said.
"There's no guarantees from crowd numbers and the like, so to have $100,000 taken away before the first game is kicked off makes it pretty difficult.
"If we couldn't pick it up through other sources over the season, we would have to dip into our pocket for it."
