All of them are salesmen or scammers and the ones that are a bit savvy are good at it. And it comes about through the overall attitude towards officialdom in our game. They are trained to do it. You can't get in trouble for influencing the refs or even intimidating them. In most cases the punishment for cheating is just a penalty.
First of all the players are a virtual protected species in their dealings with the refs. If Cam Smith tells the ref to f**k off then he'll get 10 metres for back chat. The ref tells Smith to f**k off and he'll get stood down. So the players are already encouraged to be little prima donna's and argue the toss.
The captains know that the refs are miked and they can therefore put pressure on them. The ref has to pretty much cop it. What would you do at work if someone like JT came running up to you waving his arms and swearing? I'd tell him to shut the f**k up and start behaving like an adult if he wants to discuss a problem with me. Ref's can't do that, they'll get hammered for not showing respect. The player will be said to have shown a bit too much passion in a close contest.
So what do we get?
Every player will flop at least once a game when they are playing the ball in the hope of getting a penalty. Some do it all the time. Some players do it at the right time ie when they know they will get it. Others just look like they are milking. If they don't get the penalty they will shake their heads and swear because they have been taught that milking penalties and influencing the ref is a normal part of the game.
Every dummy half knows to put their hands in the air and complain about play-the-ball speed.
Every captain questions nearly every call. They know what the penalty is for and they know they can't get it changed. They just want to stop the game and make a scene to intimidate the ref.
Players try to cheat and they lie. They claim tries they know they didn't get. They strip the ball in tackles then claim they didn't.
The list goes on. We have already seen what the savvy players are doing with the obstruction rule. Don't try to make a tackle, just get run over by a decoy. It's against the spirit of the game. So was the Storm try from the scrum the other night. It was a set move based on illegal play. This is the level of respect the players show the game.
They are more than salesmen, they are running a scam.
