Five rules you probably forgot existed … the refs have

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mozgrame

Engorged member
Dan Nicholls
– September 11, 2015

With the NRL finals kicking off tonight with a monster clash between minor premiers the Roosters and the Melbourne Storm, fans and players are pretty tense.

Although there won’t be a whole lot of thought their way, referees will also come under increased scrutiny, and therefore pressure, over the coming weeks.

Unfortunately the standard of refereeing, especially in the video box, seems to have people more frustrated than ever.

There seems to be a “crack-down” of sorts on certain rulings for a few weeks which are then soon forgotten.

Below are five rules that fans may have forgotten existed due to the fact that referees seem to have forgotten, or stopped caring, about.

Drop outs behind the line
There were a few weeks earlier in the season where EVERY time the ball was dropped over, or on, the line when taking a drop out, a penalty was blown. Players were soon dropping the ball well behind the line to avoid penalised.

Fast forward to recent weeks and we’ve seen players dropping the ball well in front of the line only to be allowed to play on.

Some saw the ruling of a penalty, ten out right in front, as harsh, but the crack-down certainly worked.

Since the penalties have stopped, so has the adhering to the rule.

When was the last time a player was penalised for this?

Feeding scrums
Rugby league scrums are almost a pointless part of the game in the modern day.

We no longer see rehearsed scrum plays as sides insist on placing players out of position.

Hookers have become ‘dummy halves’ as they no longer attack the ball in a scrum.

If by some miracle a team not feeding the scrum does manage to win possession, nine times out of ten the scrum is called back and re-fed.

Referees who pull up infringements in the scrums now do so, only to allow similar activity go within seconds.

The ball is supposed to be fed into the scrum, not rolled behind the front rower’s legs.

Teams break from the scrum early every game, yet are VERY rarely penalised.

It’s almost at the point where a scrum should be replaced by a tap, or the halfback should simply just feed the ball to the lock, who routinely breaks with the ball to create a brief one man overlap.

Using the foot to play the ball
A pet peeve of mine, and talking to people on social media, many others, is when a player simply lifts his foot over the ball rather than playing it with his foot.

To be honest if referees were to pull this up there would be 30 penalties a game on this alone, which would frustrate fans.

Players are meant to rise to their feet before placing the ball, then raking it back with their foot.

In an effort to force a faster play the ball, players lean on the ball to make it to their feet, and then step over the ball.

It certainly creates a quicker play the ball, but it against the rules.

I’d like to see players warned on the run for doing this, with a penalty resulting should they do it again.

Not every incident needs to be pulled up, just those who blatantly step over the ball.

Attackers taking out the markers
This is one of the most infuriating occurrences on a rugby league field, and it almost always goes un-penalised.

The attacking player is not permitted to step forward from their mark to impede the markers, yet it happens multiple times every week.

This is probably another rule that is policed to the letter of the law, would frustrate fans with multiple penalties every week.

To be honest I cannot remember the last time a player was penalised for stepping forward and impeding the markers, other than when a try is scored as a result.

Plenty of these rules only seem to be policed when a try is scored.

Voluntary tackle
Until last weekend’s brief penalty, I honestly thought the voluntary tackle rule no longer existed.

For those who don’t know the rule, a player must at least show some effort to continue forward momentum rather than simply falling to the ground and accepting a tackle.

How many times in a weekend do we see fullbacks dive at the feet of defenders to ensure they’re not driven back into their own in goal?

Players simply dive on a loose ball to gain possession three or four times a game.

Until last weekend, this was fine.

It’s even been encouraged and lauded by commentators as brilliant play for avoiding conceding drop outs.

Diving at a player’s feet is one of those rules that seems to only apply at certain areas of the field.

Much like the double movement rule, which doesn’t apply anywhere other than when a player reaches the try line on a second movement, diving out of your own in goal is never penalised.

Come to think of it, until last weekend, it wasn’t penalised at all.


Read more at http://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/five-...sted-the-refs-have-18963/#sfBS1bu4JAgUbHXt.99
 
Playing the ball on the mark is my pet hate. It's an offshoot to what he says above about attackers taking out markers. So many times players step forward or sideways off the mark and isolate the markers and make them appear not square allowing the dummy half to have a free shot at running and drawing a penalty or making good yardage. It's a fundamental rule of the game and why they can't / won't police it is beyond me. Their solution is to say if the attacker steps forward off the mark then they reduce the 10, but they don't consider the effect it has on the marker play and security around the ruck.

The voluntary tackle one always makes me laugh, especially when it follows right behind a shepherd play. Run behind your player and the acceptable solution is to just fall on the ground for fear of being perceived to have gained an advantage via obstruction. So the idiots in pink compound the decision to not penalise the obstruction by not penalising the voluntary tackle.
 
Letting the most basic play the ball rules (black and white, core skills learnt at a very young age) be abused yet policing nit-picky, grey area ruck rules. Screams dodgy NRL bullsh*t allllll day.

Nichols had just rehashed what plenty of people on here have been saying for quite some time, almost word for word lol.

Problem is that to effectively police the basic ruck infringements discussed (stepping off the mark, not playing ball correctly) the referees would have to penalise guys like Greg Inglis: and that is not_gunna_happen. On top of that it's a black and white ruling that can't be leaned towards one team or the other, thus taking away the power of the referee to influence a game through subjective penalties...
 
They didn't police the attackers taking out the markers for Reynolds field goal to win the guy who played the ball held grabbed hold of the marker when he was trying to get to the kicker
 
They didn't police the attackers taking out the markers for Reynolds field goal to win the guy who played the ball held grabbed hold of the marker when he was trying to get to the kicker
Was a disgrace the way the he grabbed the marker so he couldn't run for the block.
 
Funny how they can nit pick Robbie Farah being half a step not square at marker last week in golden point, yet the Dogs attacker can hold back a marker so blatantly this week in an elimination final.

Is this the same ref who allowed Josh Reynolds to be 5 minutes offside in last years semi ?? Perhaps they are related ?
 
If they really want to speed up the game the answer surely is 70's style scrums. Teams run at each other as soon as a scrum is called and the ball is flung in with haste.
 
They didn't police the attackers taking out the markers for Reynolds field goal to win the guy who played the ball held grabbed hold of the marker when he was trying to get to the kicker

A bit like when Farah got pinged last week v Saints in golden point.
There was a Dragons player in front of the play the ball just loitering, Farah had to get past him to effect the chargedown.
The irony of Farah being penalised for "not being square at marker" was that the guy that played the ball stepped sideways off the mark yet Farah gets penalised.

But yep a bugbear of mine is the play the ball.
If they make an effort to play it properly with the foot, and don't quite make contact then fair enough but just stepping over it with no attempt to play it should be penalised ( I like the warning idea ).
So too, getting leverage off the ball and not rising to play it. How many times do you see the defender get penalised for holding on when the ball carrier is trying to play it without even getting up?

Don't get me started on forward passes from dummy half.

The NRL are so busy trying to re-invent the wheel that they forget about the nuts that holds it on.
 
As an old front rower I can't stand the way rugby league scrums are today. The pack's don't bind properly, or push. Props stand out at 5/8 to do a hit up first pass off the scrum, fullbacks or hookers pack in at lock, second rowers in at hooker. I swear, the amount of times I see a fullback packing in at lock (including seeing Snake do so many times), if I had a good long kicker like DCE and fast wingers, I'd be getting the ball from a scrum and booting it downfield for my fast guys to chase, especially with scrums less than 20 out from my own line with no fullback in place. It might not always come off, but at the very least you can gain some 50 metres with a good kick without the wasted energy of having to do 5 hit ups. Its the last thing the defending team would be expecting and the line moving forward would suddenly have to turn and chase.

And don't get me started on the play the ball. I've lost count of the amount of tries allowed after someone has blatantly stepped over the ball without touching it with their foot. Yet they'll take tries off teams for obstruction when the player 'taken out' was never going to get close to whoever had the ball.
 
Is this the same ref who allowed Josh Reynolds to be 5 minutes offside in last years semi ?? Perhaps they are related ?

Will never forgive Gerard Sutton or Ben Cummins for that. The touch judge even called to Sutton that Reynolds was offside and he simply ignored it. And to make matters worse it was Reynolds who foiled Snake's attempt at a FG by tackling him. He was 5 metres offside at the play the ball and was allowed to get involved in the play. It should have been a penalty, 15 metres out and only 5 metres to the side of the posts.

That referee blunder literally cost us our season, yet virtually nothing was said about it by the NRL or the media. If Reynolds had done that against Souffs and got away with it the media (at least) would have gone over the top about it.
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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