Round 2 vs Penrith

[Dragon David]

Unfortunately, that is not likely. Dragons are the first game on Thursday night. They will get hammered for some minor infringement again. On Friday the refs will realise that they went too far, so will back off for the rest of the round. It does get depressing! (Maybe I am being too pessimistic? )

Dragons + Referees = Pessimism

 

[Dracarys]

The rucks in Dragons /Penrith game were very messy. Expect holding down penalties to soar. Hook should put the players on notice the ref will have a fast and open game or a blowfest.

 

[Illusion]

The rucks in Dragons /Penrith game were very messy. Expect holding down penalties to soar. Hook should put the players on notice the ref will have a fast and open game or a blowfest.

That's what they need to stop doing to themselves ( the Refs and Bunker ) because there is too much , as you say "Blowfest" they cant think straight ........

 

[Dragons4me]

The Dragons management and coaches need to stop being the nice meek guys, stand up for your players yell and scream for your players like Robinson, Hasler and Bellamy

And Barrett it seems after yesterday’s game. He does posess testicular undercarriage, something that was missing at our post-game interview.

 

[OneEyedDragon]

And Barrett it seems after yesterday’s game. He does posess testicular undercarriage, something that was missing at our post-game interview.

Although Hook did have a subtle dig at O'Sullivan for milking the penalty and sin bin. Maybe too subtle for the officials?

 

[Harry Bath]

Although Hook did have a subtle dig at O'Sullivan for milking the penalty and sin bin. Maybe too subtle for the officials?

Yes I don't think anyone at League headquarters would understand such a subtle dig

 

[BLM01]

This is purely guesswork, but I’ve seen similar situations play out plenty of times.

Ref makes an obvious mistake. All of the refs in the ranks are aware of it. Management backs the ref publicly but internally puts out a statement about the incident and why it was incorrect. All of the other refs want to avoid the same mistake, and end up over cautious.

For me, the core of the issue is this: the refs train, and have tip sheets on players. Those tip sheets can include things along the lines of “Josh Kerr doesn’t play the ball with his foot” or “Jayden Sua hits playmakers late”.

The reasoning behind this for the referees is that they should be aware of the tendencies of players so that they can be aware and monitor for them. But I would argue that this creates an unconscious bias against the players that have been identified, and causes the refs to over police some players and miss others’ transgressions.

I honestly think the entire refereeing system needs an overhaul. New ways to train that don’t promote unconscious bias would be a great start, and moving on a certain family that holds too much power in the refs would also be a great move in my opinion.

"I honestly think the entire refereeing system needs an overhaul"
Yep, that says it all really.
I will go on to say including the use of the bunker and the MRC

 

[BLM01]

And Barrett it seems after yesterday’s game. He does posess testicular undercarriage, something that was missing at our post-game interview.

The problem is Barrett has many on his side from the media as one of the favs as does his boss.
Hook does not and anything he says will be twisted into a negative to slap him back in the face with.

 

[BLM01]

What happened to the play the ball properly they cracked down on in the first round?
I don’t recall seeing any penalties on the weekend

Another rule now watered down with the refs boss handing down their interpretation
Now it is good enough to look like you are trying to playing the ball. Thats the facts as confirmed by commentary.

 

[blacksafake]

The problem is Barrett has many on his side from the media as one of the favs as does his boss.
Hook does not and anything he says will be twisted into a negative to slap him back in the face with.

Good point

 

[OneEyedDragon]

It's not often they get it right, but on NRL360 tonight it was agreed by all that Sua's tackle was not late, was not high, was certainly not deserving of a sin-binning and wasn't even worth a penalty. In another incident where Ben Hunt got hit late, if he had stayed down, he would probably got a penalty and the tackler would probably have been sin-binned, but Hunt didn’t stay down, so nothing happened. It does my head in!

 

[Dragon David]

The saying is "you cannot win them all". In our case we cannot win a thing with ref decisions - well in many cases anyway.

 

[BLM01]

It's not often they get it right, but on NRL360 tonight it was agreed by all that Sua's tackle was not late, was not high, was certainly not deserving of a sin-binning and wasn't even worth a penalty. In another incident where Ben Hunt got hit late, if he had stayed down, he would probably got a penalty and the tackler would probably have been sin-binned, but Hunt didn’t stay down, so nothing happened. It does my head in!

And of course Annesley goes its and individuals (officials) decsiion that can vary based on force
Waste of time his weekly review press conferences to hand selected 1-2 journos who dont ask any hard questions,
Who says the refs dont manage games. Annesley could not wait to bring the history Round 2 stat of how games have (or equal) to the lowest margin (i.e close games) for the past 20-25 years.
Makes it better for TV and viewers of course. Referees directed to avoid many blowouts?