eagle-rock08
Reserve Grader
I just spent a few pleasurable hours watching the 2011 and 2008 grand final replays the other day.
I witnessed a lot of "deliberate" shoulder charges and some that could easily be taken to be "accidental" shoulder charges that would incur a penalty in 2013.
Obviously with the rule in place, players will not attempt to do shoulder charges but these "accidental" ones will still get penalised under the new rule.
For example I saw Joe and Choc hit a Warriors player. It was just a great tackle. Joe had his arm up so it could be seen as legitimate but Choc didn't raise his arm in the tackle and could be seen as an "accidental" shoulder charge.
If this happens and all "accidental" shoulder charges are penalised Rugby League may start to resemble Rugby Union with stoppages in play with a large number of penalties given.
I foresee scores like 14 (seven penalty goals ) to 10 (one try and the three penalty goals.)
This may then put more pressure on the referees to be consistent and not let some accidental shoulder charges go. But it may also increase the pressure to increase the value of tries for they may become more infrequent over time to 5 points due to less tries being scored and then looking even more like Rah Rah.
I wish they'd try these rule changes in the NYC for a year and then evaluate it rather than make knee-jerk decisions and regret them later.
What are your thoughts? Gee I hate the off-season by the way.
I witnessed a lot of "deliberate" shoulder charges and some that could easily be taken to be "accidental" shoulder charges that would incur a penalty in 2013.
Obviously with the rule in place, players will not attempt to do shoulder charges but these "accidental" ones will still get penalised under the new rule.
For example I saw Joe and Choc hit a Warriors player. It was just a great tackle. Joe had his arm up so it could be seen as legitimate but Choc didn't raise his arm in the tackle and could be seen as an "accidental" shoulder charge.
If this happens and all "accidental" shoulder charges are penalised Rugby League may start to resemble Rugby Union with stoppages in play with a large number of penalties given.
I foresee scores like 14 (seven penalty goals ) to 10 (one try and the three penalty goals.)
This may then put more pressure on the referees to be consistent and not let some accidental shoulder charges go. But it may also increase the pressure to increase the value of tries for they may become more infrequent over time to 5 points due to less tries being scored and then looking even more like Rah Rah.
I wish they'd try these rule changes in the NYC for a year and then evaluate it rather than make knee-jerk decisions and regret them later.
What are your thoughts? Gee I hate the off-season by the way.