Bernard Sutton had a blinder.

[urulion]

That special time has come upon us once again. Ladies and Gents the Daily M winner for 2019 is (drum roll) F***head Sutton. Marginal Cummins and Perenara came in a close second. I was surprised when the rabbits were signing their team song that Sutton didn't come and join them, BLOW YOUR WHISTLE BITCH

 

[master blaster]

I will blow up deluxe if they come out now and apologise for some of the decisions, hang on, wait a minute, sorry that wont happen, haha its Manly, How stupid was I thinking that..

 

[susan]

To me, the JTurbo thing was a 50/50 call. If it was a Manly player - I'd be happy to see a Souths player go to the bin but would've been ok with just a penalty also.

I'm more concerned about the very obvious one-eyed refereeing that ruined last night's game.

It clearly wasn't in the script for Manly to win that game.

- There is no way Souths deserved a 9-3 penalty count. We belted them through the ruck all night and no one can tell me we didn't deserve a heap more 'hold down' penalties.
- There is no way Souths were perfectly disciplined in the 2nd half.
- There is no way Souths deserved 3 tries from 3 penalties.

The refs discretion on when to award penalties and having a "feel for the game" is what is wrong with Rugby League today. It highlights very obviously a lack of consistency.

It was very obvious last night the "feel for the game" the refs had was that Manly were far more ill disciplined than Souths and that simply wasn't the case.

A sour end to what was a great year.

(Watch the media outlets focus solely on the JTurbo grab to take the focus away from the one-eyed refereeing)

I hope they do focus on it. You speak about feel for the game. A bloke gets tangled up in a sudden death semi final with everything on the line way behind the play with the ball carrier looking outside to pass; was never going to be involved at all AND they messed the play up anyway.

That’s not 50 /50. Its 0/100. It’s a disgraceful decision from someone who has absolutely no feel for the game. And that is before the penalty count is considered.Traditional Manly haters and even Souths supporters far and wide are condemning the binning There is the answer in itself.

There is no 50/50 here. I’ve been playing , coaching and watching footy for 50 years and that never has been or should be a sin bin offence.It was the action of a biased official with a clear agenda .Simple as that.

 

[mave]

Its almost as if only one team was being referreed last night.

South's played perfectly disciplined footy for the last 60 odd minutes. Impressive stuff.

Interestingly, this phenomenon also occurred the last time these two teams played each other.

Who said lightning doesn't strike twice.

 

[susan]

You used the term “ feel for the game”. A feel for the game on this occasion means you do NOT basically decide an incredibly important game on the basis of what you yourself describe as a 50/50 call. A penalty yes. Agree with you there every day of the week.But to decide a game on something that even you describe as marginal is totally ridiculous.

A sin bin in that situation should require close to certainty. Giving the best defender in the game 10 minutes with 10 to go instead of a penalty in that situation are millions of miles apart in effect. Professional fouls are almost 100 per cent of the time awarded in regard to play that effects a try scoring opportunity.Holding a shoulder in your own quarter will NEVER be deemed a foul.Its the TRY SCORING OPPORTUNITY facet that defines a professional foul, not the shoulder grab itself, so it is not a professional foul in every situation at all.

If Gagai was going to be involved in a try then I am a transgender circus dwarf.It’s not an unlucky 50/50! It defines the game! Fans have had a gutful of this inconsistent rubbish.

What happened last night is the absolute ESSENCE of what “feel for the game” is. And the fact he dived should add incredible weight to that feel that good referees have when making such a huge decision. If every 50 / 50 resulted in a penalty or binning without taking into account the context of a game/ diving etc because you have to enforce a rule then we wouldn’t have a game. There would be no football played.

It’s called letting players decide the outcome and not ruining a game with pedantic incompetence.
But as Joey said, and every fan knows, players don’t decide games anymore.Tonight they took it to a new level.

 

[Frogz]

No sin bin for Hargreaves trip the week before

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I blame @Mark from Brisbane . He lived in the same town as them from memory (Moree?). Surely a pig shooting accident gone wrong could’ve accounted for the three of them.

They were ****s then and they are ****s now.

Told ya they were arseholes.

 

[Suchislife]

Can someone please explain to me how are you suppose to defend your try line when you have an opposing player in your way slowing down so that defending player can not get to the man with the ball. I feel you have one of three choices to make,
1. Steam through/over player to get to attacking player (which will earn a penalty)
2. Push/nudge the defending player out of the way to get to attacking player (which will earn a penalty)
3. You are forced to try to go around the player ( no penalty) keeping in mind that the player can shadow your progression making your attempt pointless you might as well let the player score since you have no chance to reach the man with the ball.
NRL or anybody can you please explain what is the solution?
Considering the fact that if you even slightly brush the player on your way through, the player will take a dive as if he has been pole axed earning the defending player a professional foul. yet we make fun of the dives in soccer. with every change and playing restriction soon the game will be unplayable. That is why telecasts are losing viewers to see your team bust their arse to win and than lose due to some half arsed interpretation by match officials is totally unacceptable.

 

[susan]

It didn't decide the game. That's your opinion. My opinion is different.

If Jorge catches the ball and Parker doesn't give a penalty away on their try line - maybe we win - maybe we don't.

The rules are the rules. Jurbo broke the rules by pulling a players jersey from behind. Irrespective of whether the refs used their "feel for the game" in this instance, Jurbo still broke the rules so as I said - I'm ok with a 50/50 penalty or sin bin.

As I stated earlier, the refs have been given too much license to get a "feel for the game". This results in inconsistency. The NRL went this way because when they tried to enforce the rules - it became a penaltyathon. The rules are there to be followed, it's the refs interpretation and license to "feel" a game that's destroying it.

If they ditched their "feel for the game" last night and reviewed Jurbos situation, I believe he still gets 10 in the bin because it's a professional foul to pull/push a running player from behind. Shoulder to shoulder only.

In my opinion, the moment the game decided to not enforce rules (due to too many penalties and the related media hysteria that followed) and allow ref discretion in calling a game is the moment it went pear shaped. I don't think you will ever get consistency back until the NRL enforces their own rules.

Those are not the rules.Get that right at least.

The rule is a shoulder grab IS NOT a professional foul / sin bin in isolation..A shoulder grab is a professional foul ONLY when there is a TRY SCORING OPPORTUNITY.That is how they have applied the rule forever.It is not an interpretation. It is the essence of a professional foul and has been refereed as such ever since sin bin has been used.

If you think Gagai was going to be involved in a try then I am watching a different game. Ball carrier looking other way , well behind play , he dives and to rub salt into wound they f..ck it up anyway and we get ball.
No one doubts a penalty. The rules for a hundred years do not call for a professional foul in that situation.

 

[MuzztheEagle]

It didn't decide the game. That's your opinion. My opinion is different.

If Jorge catches the ball and Parker doesn't give a penalty away on their try line - maybe we win - maybe we don't.

The rules are the rules. Jurbo broke the rules by pulling a players jersey from behind. Irrespective of whether the refs used their "feel for the game" in this instance, Jurbo still broke the rules so as I said - I'm ok with a 50/50 penalty or sin bin.

As I stated earlier, the refs have been given too much license to get a "feel for the game". This results in inconsistency. The NRL went this way because when they tried to enforce the rules - it became a penaltyathon. The rules are there to be followed, it's the refs interpretation and license to "feel" a game that's destroying it.

If they ditched their "feel for the game" last night and reviewed Jurbos situation, I believe he still gets 10 in the bin because it's a professional foul to pull/push a running player from behind. Shoulder to shoulder only.

In my opinion, the moment the game decided to not enforce rules (due to too many penalties and the related media hysteria that followed) and allow ref discretion in calling a game is the moment it went pear shaped. I don't think you will ever get consistency back until the NRL enforces their own rules.

If you really think that deserved 10 in the bin then I'm guessing you must love your soccer. Diving for penalties has no place in our game but every season it gets worse

 

[weev]

We will never win the comp if we don't have a performer like Sutton in our team. He is a true master, directing the play like he has a magic wand.

I say ditch the Turbo bros and buy this guy instead. A better investment in the NRL. The best thing about him is because he never has to tackle or be tackled he'll be fully fit for the finals and to make the big plays that always swing games.

I guess we need to suck up to his Todd, his manager.

 

[QueefRichards]

Jake didnt touch him to take him out of play, he touched him so that he wasnt impeded to tackle the ball runner. Its a penalty, not a professional foul. Anyway, I hope to see footage of Parker being taken without the ball. I thought Garrick got shoulder charged as well.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

In a “ feel for the game” moment it wasn’t a send off, a penalty yes.

Had it happened whilst both were headed for the line to score a try , absolutely.

And to do that in a semi finals game ( which basically handed the other side the win) in my opinion is absolute cheating at its best.

Jake knew it, Cherry knew it and so did Sutton.

 

[susan]

Batty ,what you referred to above refers to “foul play” in the sense of high tackle , head butt etc and has been applied recently for acts like that. We had many years where “foul play” could not result in a binning ( only a send off ); it was ridiculous and they had to change it.It can be applied in all situations. Try scoring opportunity or not. This rule fixed the obvious ridiculous situation of a seriously offending players ( but short of send off ) getting no punishment other than a penalty - but it is only a relatively recent addition.

A “ professional foul “ is a totally different scenario to “foul play” and has always been a sin bin able offence since the bin was brought in. A professional foul has always required the offence to occur in regards to a try scoring opportunity.It has nothing to do with the “foul play “ referred to above and can involve something minor like a shirt pull, lying on a player too long or a swinging foot that would never be deemed “foul play” under the rule above

But yes. As you say we are heading in a great direction. We win this next year.

 

[yokahontas]

As I said.... In my opinion it was a penalty not a sin bin.

But due to the rules, it's up to the ref to decide if he thinks the foul play was serious to warrant a sin bin. That makes this a 50/50. That's the nature of the current refereeing beast.

Did Gagai take a dive. Absolutely.
But Gagai doesn't dive if Jake doesn't grab him.

The type of ‘serious foul play’ you refer to has always been used - up until last night, apparently - to apply to deliberate acts that you might also refer to as dirty/grubby.

That interpretation, which we don’t see often these days, is more when a hot-headed player is sailing too close to the wind and needs to be sat down for 10 to cool off. You used to see it, say, when a JWH type might have come into his last two or three tackles with swinging arms that haven’t quite connected enough to warrant a send-off, but you can see he’s angry and escalating, so he gets 10 to calm down before someone really gets hurt. You know, the kind of stuff the refs used to warn players, “do it again and you’re in the bin.” That didn’t apply to Jake one iota.

‘Professional foul’ and ‘serious foul play’ are not the same category of offence.

 

[Scorpio]

"A player will be sin binned for foul play in circumstances where, in the opinion of the referee, the act of foul play is of a serious nature"

This is the issue.

How is a jersey grab, when trying to get to the ball runner, of a serious nature??

 

[susan]

They are totally different rules. Absolutely separate ! Jakes has nothing to do with the foul play rule and “serious nature “

Marty against Parra is the classic application of the “foul play” rule which has only been operating for a relatively short time. No try scoring opportunity , illegal high tackle which fell short of a send off - so bin used.

This is a totally separate rule to the rule applied wrongly to Jake which has been operable ever since the bin was brought in years ago and has always required a try scoring opportunity and does not require acts that would be defined as foul in the rule above.

In short “ foul play” rule above is totally different to “ professional foul”.

At Burleigh we get updated on this stuff by referees all the time in the Intrust Cup. The foul play rule was desperately needed and welcomed but has nothing to do with a professional foul .

 

[Cioran]

I’ve said it before and, sadly, I will no doubt say it again. A sport that exists primarily for gambling can’t so blatantly fix matches. There’s a reason why no one runs a book on professional wrestling. I used to bet on league (not a lot but regularly) but I haven’t had a dabble in three years.

 

[Kevinward777]

We will never win the comp if we don't have a performer like Sutton in our team. He is a true master, directing the play like he has a magic wand.

I say ditch the Turbo bros and buy this guy instead. A better investment in the NRL. The best thing about him is because he never has to tackle or be tackled he'll be fully fit for the finals and to make the big plays that always swing games.

I guess we need to suck up to his Todd, his manager.

And his big brother always makes sure he’s the first man picked. Don’t forget that.

 

[John Nicholson]

Breaking news; last night's two referees Gerard Sutton and Adam Gee have been invited to join the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires. They will of course have to be trained in the manipulation of the DRS System, however the ICC Chairman Geoff Allardyce feels that, based on their performances in the NRL Semi Final between Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and South Sydney Rabbitohs they are capable of fulfilling the guidelines of the ICC and their Indian based Corporate partners.