The nrl has become a joke. The referees are a joke. To many new rules, to many stupid penalties. The most obvious penalties or no trys being overlooked. It has become the laughing stock of all codes. Crowds dropping, gee I wonder why. The game is actually becoming worse. And in ten years time could become the 4th or 5th ranked code in Australia . I think the game needs to go backwards in time before it can go forward again.
This all goes back to when Robert Finch turned refereeing into game management, it's been f**ked ever since. The two referee system has been a blight on the game, it has offered absolutely f**king nothing except added another layer of incompetent shit. All this surrender this, dominant that, tip sheets, crackdowns and on and on it goes. These f**kers also TALK way too much on the field, no wonder they get so many calls wrong, they're ALWAYS f**kING TALKING and can't concentrate - just get back to what the art of refereeing is all about and that is REFEREEING WHAT YOU SEE, NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE.
It is so f**king simple, f**k.
Sums it up really.
It shouldn't be that hard really.
Of all the issues we've got obstruction (year in year out) and ruck infringements (hands on ball, hold on too long, blah) causing all the issues in the game right now.
Solutions.
1. Don't run behind your own player, at all, even if you stop and try to give yourself up. Run behind own player = penalty. Black and white. Onus is on one person. Decoy's cannot make contact in any case with the defender, at all, ever, no matter what. Decoy running is crap anyway. Kill it. It's one of the aspects of the sport that are just too hard to get right, so end it.
2. If you don't see it, it may as well not have happened. If the ball comes free in the tackle and you didn't see it clearly raked, then the attacker should have held onto it better. If you miss a rake that's understandable, but when you penalise a person for doing nothing wrong (which happens about half the time), then that's unforgiveable.
3. Get rid of all the unnecessary ruck control dominant/surrender garbage. It's inconsistently called. If the attacker is held call held. Count to three. If the defenders aren't off the defender by then, penalise them unless one of them is injured or the attacking player is clearly holding onto the player to milk a penalty in which case the penalty goes the other way immediately. Onus is on the defender to get the f**k outta dodge before the whistle blows and it's not confusing. If you miss a sneaky attacker grabbing a shirt that's understandable but with two refs on the field and one standing over the ruck you should be able to see it most of the time.
4. Video ref tipoffs need to happen in obvious cases. If something obvious like the time has lapsed let him tell the ref. If there is a break in play after a ruling and the video ref has time to see that it was an utter howler, overrule it. And for the love of God let him rule on forward passes.
5. Understand that the game is not for penalties, the penalties are merely to shape a quality sport. Don't blow it unless you're sure. The games are better quality when they are end to end and this means happier fans, and more fans.
