Penalty Blitz

[M2D2]

Valid point. It was the 10 that indirectly led to the wrestle and holding down (as well as unrealistic demands for faster PTB's).. Arguments for or against the 10 aside, there are 2 avenues that could work, without attempting to outlaw the practice. Make it less rewarding energy wise to do it- eliminate the interchange... and offer an alternative- more leeway/time to solo (and possibly 2 man) quick grounding tackles. It's not going to lead to constant fast PTB's, will increase game fatigue and mean no interchange (which I know you hate), but this defensive blight is not going to be cured without such measures. You can't really introduce new rules to outlaw it, as it's not illegal play, just boring and over used. I understand where you're coming from and you have an argument. I just think turning back the clock is better than introducing new rule patches to cover other new rule patches. It's how we got here.

All i know is, for me, one of the biggest mistakes the game made, was to punish a player for a good round the legs tackle, something thats still so beautiful to see.

 

[rupertpupkin]

All i know is, for me, one of the biggest mistakes the game made, was to punish a player for a good round the legs tackle, something thats still so beautiful to see.

Absolutely agreed.

 

[OldPanther]

All i know is, for me, one of the biggest mistakes the game made, was to punish a player for a good round the legs tackle, something thats still so beautiful to see.

How do you change that? It's not directly being punished. It just leads to a quick play the ball. More of a passive benifit really.

 

[Clifferd]

14-15 penalties in Sydney v Warriors and Newcastle v Dragons

Game has been soooo much better and free flowing

Are you telling me these teams are far more disciplined than the Sharks/Melbourne? Or has the ref kept the whistle in the pocket

 

[Saxon]

14-15 penalties in Sydney v Warriors and Newcastle v Dragons

Game has been soooo much better and free flowing

Are you telling me these teams are far more disciplined than the Sharks/Melbourne? Or has the ref kept the whistle in the pocket

Option B

 

[OldPanther]

14-15 penalties in Sydney v Warriors and Newcastle v Dragons

Game has been soooo much better and free flowing

Are you telling me these teams are far more disciplined than the Sharks/Melbourne? Or has the ref kept the whistle in the pocket

I'm going to say more disciplined. It's been my point the entire time that we can still get good football. Penalties will happen and the ref will make mistakes but at least we can get rid of a few annoyances out of the game.

 

[M2D2]

How do you change that? It's not directly being punished. It just leads to a quick play the ball. More of a passive benifit really.

Well, for a while we had "Dominant" tackle, bringing it back for that would help and declaring one on one tackles as dominant would be something to look at. But i dont see that happening.
But thats a part of the reason why the wrestle was brought in and worked. It allowed the players to keep movement going giving enough time for players to get back and set their lines, all within the rules.
So we went from what was a great tackle was coached away due to the rules.

14-15 penalties in Sydney v Warriors and Newcastle v Dragons

Game has been soooo much better and free flowing

Are you telling me these teams are far more disciplined than the Sharks/Melbourne? Or has the ref kept the whistle in the pocket

I didnt watch Cocks V Warriors.
But in this game, they went back to 12 meters and coaching players who were off/not square.
Something they didnt do in Sharks V Storm.
I think its a bit of A & B.

 

[cleary89]

14-15 penalties in Sydney v Warriors and Newcastle v Dragons

Game has been soooo much better and free flowing

Are you telling me these teams are far more disciplined than the Sharks/Melbourne? Or has the ref kept the whistle in the pocket

Sharks and melbourne were 1st and 2nd most penalised last year. Warriors and dragons were 15th and 16th.

 

[beave]

Mostly option B IMO.

They seemed to want to mostly work with the refs and not grub it up *cough storm sharks *cough

 

[T-Boon]

Are you telling me these teams are far more disciplined than the Sharks/Melbourne? Or has the ref kept the whistle in the pocket

yes it is one of the reasons the Dragons are 4-0. They don't give away the penalties.

 

[T-Boon]

How do you change that? It's not directly being punished. It just leads to a quick play the ball. More of a passive benifit really.

I think at the very least it needs to be considered a dominant tackle and the markers should be given time to get square.
The worst thing is they usually just exploit the one on one tackle with a DH run up the middle for 20 metres or a line break. It isn't exactly beautiful RL. At least cut that avenue off by allowing time for the markers to get in place.

 

[Slackboy72]

14-15 penalties in Sydney v Warriors and Newcastle v Dragons

Game has been soooo much better and free flowing

Are you telling me these teams are far more disciplined than the Sharks/Melbourne? Or has the ref kept the whistle in the pocket

Look at the work that Melbourne and Cronulla put in after the tackle and compare it to the Dragons.
It's like night and day.

 

[Clifferd]

Look at the work that Melbourne and Cronulla put in after the tackle and compare it to the Dragons.
It's like night and day.

Is it really 18 penalties difference though? I’ll have to rewatch the Melb v Cronulla game to refresh my memory while I still have the recent game in my head, but banging my head on the table sounds more fun at this point

 

[Life's Good]

14-15 penalties in Sydney v Warriors and Newcastle v Dragons

Game has been soooo much better and free flowing

Are you telling me these teams are far more disciplined than the Sharks/Melbourne? Or has the ref kept the whistle in the pocket

More disciplined. I’d suggest Dragons, Knights, Panthers, Warriors(even your mob)are generally not niggly teams. To me the crackdown is turning the balance in favour of teams just looking to play footy(that’s not meant to be a dramatic statement, just my observation).

 

[Clifferd]

More disciplined. I’d suggest Dragons, Knights, Panthers, Warriors(even your mob)are generally not niggly teams. To me the crackdown is turning the balance in favour of teams just looking to play footy(that’s not meant to be a dramatic statement, just my observation).

And that’s not even a bad thing

Games involving those teams you mentioned (well with the exception of my team haha) are generally the most exciting to watch

 

[Life's Good]

And that’s not even a bad thing

Games involving those teams you mentioned (well with the exception of my team haha) are generally the most exciting to watch

Of course it isn’t. A mate of mine(Tigers fan)is always banging on about penalties going the way of the ‘bigger teams’. He doesn’t say it so much now.
Sure there will be howlers but at least the basics of the game are starting to show again - foot on the ball, defensive players on both sides of the ruck back the 10. Its no coincidence the teams I mentioned are going well or at least playing decent footy.

 

[M2D2]

Look at the work that Melbourne and Cronulla put in after the tackle and compare it to the Dragons.
It's like night and day.

https://www.nrl.com/draw/nrl-premiership/2018/round-4/sharks-vs-storm/
7(5-2) of the 33 penalties were for anything associated to the wrestle/release.
So to the people claiming thats what the crackdown is about, really missed what was on display in regards to the penalties on friday.
2 Grapples at the end of the game cause Storm was pissed.
10 offside penalties
and 4 backchat penalties.
with another 10 to random offsides, running players off the ball, markers not square, that professional foul & strips.
That compared to todays match which had players warned about offside/Square.
Its pretty clear to see the difference in the officiating between the matches.

Why Sharks V Storm had no warnings with the 10 meters and not square and today it was clear to see/hear they did, you would have to ask Greenberg on why that was the case.
Even with those warnings, you would still have a higher penalty count than most due to the fact its Storm & Sharks.
So its def0 a case of less wanting to blow this whistle and ill discipline on display between Today and Friday.

 

[T-Boon]

So its def0 a case of less wanting to blow this whistle and ill discipline on display between Today and Friday.

I doubt the refs would change things up mid round. Way more likely to be a discipline thing and there just wasn't the penalties to give. Maybe some clubs are getting it and haven't invested so much in the spoiling tactics in the past. Maybe it is easier for those clubs to adjust.

 

[M2D2]

I doubt the refs would change things up mid round. Way more likely to be a discipline thing and there just wasn't the penalties to give. Maybe some clubs are getting it and haven't invested so much in the spoiling tactics in the past. Maybe it is easier for those clubs to adjust.

There were no warnings in Sharks v Storm for offside or not square at marker.
There were warnings today and were back the 12. Which resulted in only 3 offside penalties compared to 10 on Friday.
No doubt that sharks and storm are more ill disciplined. But the refs today were doing what they werent on friday with warning players.
Why the change, i dont know. Maybe to send a message. Maybe backlash after friday.
Cant say.

 

[LineBall]

Sharks and melbourne were 1st and 2nd most penalised last year. Warriors and dragons were 15th and 16th.

You use logic. I like.