Is the NRL competition rigged?

[Bearfax]

The recent Warriors-Storm referee debacle has even high profile ex players commentating for the various media outlets asking questions only posed by parochial Rugby League supporters in the past. Is the NRL manipulating the game through favouritism not only in their salary cap, TPA, no fault interpretations but also through instructions to their referees.

This latest 'mistake' minutes from the end of the game, parallel's the mind boggling incidents in the Manly-Saints game the previous weekend. Has the game been usurped by money people out to ensure their team stays at the head of the pack? Would the 'no fault' law have been introduced if a player such as Smith, Cronk, Mitchell been the accused persons. Would seriously controversial referee decisions be made which would lead to the Storm, Roosters or even the Broncs losing a match. Would teams like the Roosters and Melbourne be seriously checked for salary cap and TPA breaches in the present environment. Questions that are increasingly being asked.

 

[eagerbeaver]

In a word - yes.
Another example - this virtually unbeatable star-studded roosters team have gone on to pretty big leads in how many games now (v Manly, Storm & Dragons come to mind)?
Are you seriously going to tell me a team that far ahead of the pack are unable to go on with it in the second half and rack up a score??
Its manipulated to keep the scores close in the end and make the competition look an even contest.

 

[mave]

Tigers didn't read the script last weekend, obviously.

 

[Highflier]

your speaking about what is not to be spoken about .
Yes it is suspicious that all these various new rules i.e no fault rule and refereeing howlers along with salary cap investigation and irregularities all seem to target one end of the comp.
Never a word said about the Rorters cap or Brisbane or Souffs (when is the attempted Ingliss rort due to be posted or are they going to try and go quite on that and have that swept under the same carpet Greenberg has spent is career lifting up and sweeping lies,atrocities,corrupt decisions ,and salary cap rorts under)
As Global Eagle said everything that is bad about the game can be traced back to Melbourne ,Bellamy and Smith are blights on the game and they have been allowed to get away with attempted maiming of players and in fact making the game unwatchable and then lauded for their efforts by the paid imbeciles on TV who don't want to rock the boat and call them out for fear of being reprimanded by their media masters and ofcourse master manipulator and Rugby League moron Greenburg
I could barely watch last night as Chechin for large parts of that game appeared to ref only one side .It is hard to watch Smith entangle himself in every tackle and take forever to disentangle himself and then have the warriors penalized in double quick time for what I dont know nearly everytime they were on Melbournes line,you could nearly set your clock by it..The commentators have stopped asking what was the penalty for .Its like they have been told to just gloss over any errors especially if they favor teams like Melbourne
Disgraceful
Go MANLY!

 

[Moops]

Yes, the game is rigged, no doubt. But what I am confused about is how many favours does the NRL want to give Melbourne? It has been twenty plus years of blatant leg-ups for the Storm. If there is a team that should be given a push, it is the Warriors. Imagine how much the game would grow in NZ if the Warriors experienced a bit of success. I can't watch five minutes of the Storm without feeling ill. They annoy the crap out of me.

 

[manlywarringah]

I think it’s been rigged since around the 2013 grand final.

We all know what happened there and funnily enough, just happened to have “fairytales” nearly every year after that.

Some teams are expendable (us amongst a couple of others) and some favoured......let’s not upset the broncos or cowboys with their favoured scheduling...

While that ratbag Greenturd is in charge, we won’t have a fair competition.

Peter V’Landys is the man I want in charge. He’s doing great things in NSW racing and would be great for the NRL....and let’s face it, he couldn’t be any worse.

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

2013 grand final does come into consideration definitely.Infact it should have been replayed for the 14 incorrect refereeing decisions made in the game.

 

[nightster]

I think it’s been rigged since around the 2013 grand final.

We all know what happened there and funnily enough, just happened to have “fairytales” nearly every year after that.

Some teams are expendable (us amongst a couple of others) and some favoured......let’s not upset the broncos or cowboys with their favoured scheduling...

While that ratbag Greenturd is in charge, we won’t have a fair competition.

Peter V’Landys is the man I want in charge. He’s doing great things in NSW racing and would be great for the NRL....and let’s face it, he couldn’t be any worse.

yeah ... definitely no rigging of horse races ...

 

[globaleagle]

I'm going to say no.

I would like to say yes but I'm thinking this is the 'angry fan' within me. I think not as how many premierships would Manly have won recently?

Maybe I want to believe in a fair competition, so think no.

Do ref's have their favourites? Probably. A that isn't good. Also Bill Harrigan once said they referee off 'cheat lists' which I think is terrible and should have gotten much more play at the time.

"Watmough usually strips the ball" - is not enough of a reason to always rule against him. (I think that was the example at the time).

Additionally, you read comments on other forums and articles (note... never do that) and every fan thinks their team is hard done by and the refs favour the opposition.



But you know...I could be wrong. 2013 is a hard one to get over.


Edit: The 2002 womens ice hockey gold medal game was a classic 'ref attempt' at cheating.

Canada v USA with a usa ref. 45,000 consecutive penalties later, Canada still managed to get the win!

Referee Stacy Livingstone for those wanting something to look up.

 

[Woodsie]

There used to be an old adage ... that said not only had one to be impartial ... one must appear to be impartial .....

I honestly don't know if the game is rigged ... certainly there is sufficient anecdotal evidence to suggest if it walks like one. quacks like one etc .....

But when the complete, total and absolute power over all aspects of the game from Salary Cap, banning players, referees. etc rests in the hands of one man ... GreenTurd .... with no apparent appeals process or oversight ...... then the game is at serious risk of all that power being mis-used at best and complete corruption at worst .......

Said it before ... the day the referee's Association was disbanded and the referee's became full time employees of the NRL was a very dark day for the game of Rugby League ...

 

[nightster]

I'm going to say no.

I would like to say yes but I'm thinking this is the 'angry fan' within me. I think not as how many premierships would Manly have won recently?

Maybe I want to believe in a fair competition, so think no.

Do ref's have their favourites? Probably. A that isn't good. Also Bill Harrigan once said they referee off 'cheat lists' which I think is terrible and should have gotten much more play at the time.

"Watmough usually strips the ball" - is not enough of a reason to always rule against him. (I think that was the example at the time).

Additionally, you read comments on other forums and articles (note... never do that) and every fan thinks their team is hard done by and the refs favour the opposition.



But you know...I could be wrong. 2013 is a hard one to get over.


Edit: The 2002 womens ice hockey gold medal game was a classic 'ref attempt' at cheating.

Canada v USA with a usa ref. 45,000 consecutive penalties later, Canada still managed to get the win!

I think it coincides with the Greenturd era

 

[wombatgc]

The commentators have stopped asking what was the penalty for .Its like they have been told to just gloss over any errors especially if they favor teams like Melbourne
Disgraceful
Go MANLY!

This is what I have found most glaring this year. I’ve been mixing it up with the TV and the wireless (AndrewMoore) for some games this year. The difference in opinion, and calling the shots, it’s beyond a different opinion, it’s like a whole new game. They barely made the replay of the Smith rort penalty on Fox. It’s obvious the directive has been passed onto the TV producers to make as little fuss as possible. Does anyone not think it strange that only a few weeks ago, Brandy blew up deluxe, and called for Munro to miss the next week. Fast forward to last night and he couldn’t work out who’s pocket to piiss in the most, the refs, or referee Smith. He was as quiet as a church mouse on that two point penalty, when every man and his dog could see SCam pulled it out of his filthy grubby playbook techniques 101.

 

[Ranga]

I don’t think it is rigged in the sense that there is a predetermined outcome, otherwise the NRL would have gifted Parra a title to help it win the “Battle of the West”.

However, there is no doubt that some clubs and players are generally favoured and that there are many areas of the game that are manipulated or massaged to suit whatever agenda the NRL has at the time. Among the many examples, I still bristle at the thought of Parra being able to medically retire Watmough so that they could get under the cap and play for points when we all knew his knees were busted.

 

[Woodsie]

I don’t think it is rigged in the sense that there is a predetermined outcome, otherwise the NRL would have gifted Parra a title to help it win the “Battle of the West”.

However, there is no doubt that some clubs and players are generally favoured and that there are many areas of the game that are manipulated or massaged to suit whatever agenda the NRL has at the time. Among the many examples, I still bristle at the thought of Parra being able to medically retire Watmough so that they could get under the cap and play for points when we all knew his knees were busted.

Which I guess raises the issue of the definition of the word rigged ....... if you massage or manipulate enough of the events that have a bearing on the outcome without necessarily guaranteeing it .... have you in fact still been guilty og rigging ....

Is a game victory or a Premiership win the "only" measures of rigging .... if you manipulate enough factors ... a certain level of advantage must be conveyed ...

 

[anthonyb1965]

I would say no. I think there are a bucket load of bad decisions and stupid mistakes but I don’t think you could rig the game without someone blowing the whistle (pun intended).

Look at it this way, the Broncos are a powerful club with more money than the Roosters. Where is their “leg up”? I am sure if there was a thought of corruption, the Broncos would be all over it.

 

[globaleagle]

So, do you think it is rigged or not?

lol

A nice 'Libran' answer that was of mine!

"No"

 

[mave]

I would say no. I think there are a bucket load of bad decisions and stupid mistakes but I don’t think you could rig the game without someone blowing the whistle (pun intended).

Look at it this way, the Broncos are a powerful club with more money than the Roosters. Where is their “leg up”? I am sure if there was a thought of corruption, the Broncos would be all over it.

Where is the Broncos "leg up" ?

You must be joking, right ?

Constant FTA games with 7 day turnarounds, unless its Origin time, then they magically play on a Sunday afternoon to avoid a 2 day turnaround.

Massive TPAs. The Thouroughbreds.

News Ltd owned for years resulting in untold positive press, HQ decisions, etc.

20 year no compete clause after the SL war.

A seemingly complete blind eye by the local press to any misbehaviour by players.

This is before you want to talk about anyt perceived bias on the actual footy field.

 

[maxta]

I think there are teams and even more obviously players, who get red carpet treatment.
I have seen games where a John Thurston or Cameron Smith can literally point out an opposition player for throwing a forward pass, or holding on in a tackle....the the ref blows a penalty based on them bitching and shouting....even the refs tend to joke around on a personal level with the "Pet players".
There was a game a ref was mucking around with Andrew Johns about a kick from the sideline and in general, the refs seem almost star struck by the big name players who obviously take advantage.

 

[Moops]

I don’t think it is rigged in the sense that there is a predetermined outcome, otherwise the NRL would have gifted Parra a title to help it win the “Battle of the West”.

However, there is no doubt that some clubs and players are generally favoured and that there are many areas of the game that are manipulated or massaged to suit whatever agenda the NRL has at the time. Among the many examples, I still bristle at the thought of Parra being able to medically retire Watmough so that they could get under the cap and play for points when we all knew his knees were busted.

I just wonder how much more credit players like Menzies, Brett Stewart, Glenn Stewart, DCE, Matai, Lyon etc would have received had they played with the Storm or Broncos?!

 

[Shoe1]

13-12 has been a very popular score this year. 3 or 4 games already.

Our game v saints also should have been 13-12