NRL Continues to fight Grapple Tackle
Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - 10:10 AM
The NRL is being urged to continue its campaign against the grapple tackle, receiving unanimous support for further measures to discourage the practice from an advisory group selected to discuss NRL rules today.
The group, made up of former players and coaches, referees, the RLPA and media commentators discussed ideas that will in turn be raised at the annual meeting of current coaches and players on November 20. The annual conference of club chief executives will follow on December 5 and 6.
Todays meeting paid particular attention to the grapple tackle, the dominant tackle call, the issue of multiple defenders in upright tackles, interchange rules, sin-bin options, in-goal areas, video technology and the protection of kickers.
The area that sparked the most consistent agreement was the grapple tackle.
It was strongly recommended that any prolonged contact with the head or neck in a tackle should result in a penalty and a possible judiciary charge.
Where any incidental contact in these areas was made during the course of a tackle, there would be an onus on the defender to immediately release his hold.
Closely related to this was the current dominant tackle ruling in which the referees call of dominant allows the defending team additional time to clear the tackle.
Todays meeting recommended that referees no longer make such a call, although they should retain the surrender call to prevent attacking players diving at the defence.
The meeting covered almost five hours of robust discussion about the game, NRL Chief Executive, Mr David Gallop, said today.
The game is not in need of major changes but we should always be looking to make any improvements that we can.
As we found today, in many ways you can start looking to make a change only to find that when you really examine every aspect you realise that the best outcome is already in place.
Certainly today there were also some good ideas that we should pursue further and we will do that with the coaches and the players later this year as well as with the clubs and the boards that govern the game.
The following is a summary of issues discussed:
Grapple tackle
- - Any prolonged contact with the head or neck to be penalised.
- - The onus is on a defender to immediately release his hold if any incidental contact occurs with the head or neck.
- - A review of match review and judiciary procedures in relation to grapple tackles.
- - Eliminate dominant call.
- - Retain surrender call.
Upright tackles
- - Referees to examine stricter application of the held call where multiple defenders hold-up a ball carrier to gain time.
- - Late tacklers in such situations banned from attacking the legs of the ball carrier.
Protecting the kicker
- - Players seeking to charge down a kick must not leap into the air when approaching kicker.
Obstruction rule
- - Retain current interpretation
Interchange rule
- - The retention of the current numbers was discussed but with a restriction on the number of times an individual player could return to the field.
Captains Challenge
- - Discussion on whether captains could make one or two challenges per half for video review.
- - Suggestions included that this be limited to stripping penalties only.
Scrums
- - The defending team should be moved 10m behind the scrum (current rule is 5m) to increase attacking options.
Sin-Bin
- - A look at whether the length of a sin-bin should be reduced and whether the period should end automatically the offending team has conceded a try.
In-Goal areas
- - Suggestion that in-goal areas be standardised at 6m to encourage more attack through the hands rather than through kicks.
Time wasting
- - Standardise time-out periods after a try is scored and after the referee has awarded a line drop-out.
The advisory group consisted of: David Gallop, Geoff Carr, Graham Annesley, Matt Rodwell, Warren Ryan, Michael Buettner, Bill Harrigan, Tony Archer,
Stuart Raper, Ron Massey, Gorden Tallis, Sean Fagan, Wayne Pearce, Laurie Daley, Warren Smith, Andrew Voss, Dr Hugh Hazard, Jason Stevens.
Source: NRL
