Round 6 - Non Manly Games

[MadMarcus]

I agree BK. I thought it was a close call. As a neutral spectator I was happy to see them let Melbourne have a crack at St George's line.

 

[joeboy]

Fox clock or any broadcaster is not the official time piece.

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Fox clock or any broadcaster is not the official time piece.

 

[COMMANDER]

Fox clock or any broadcaster is not the official time piece.

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Fox clock or any broadcaster is not the official time piece.

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Official game clock should be made available to the broadcaster.

 

[StuBoot]

Hard to believe but I actually feel sorry for Cechin. It was a 50/50 call whether to let that play the ball go or not, but the NRL have after hours of reviewing replays now come out said it was the wrong call. He had to make a split second decision with the game on the line. Thrown him under a bus.

Yeah, rather than say he made the decision in the run of play and we'll all live with it they say it was a wrong call. The NRL are tweaking the rules constantly to keep the ball in play but won't back the ref on this.

Plenty of times when there has been a blatantly wrong call they say nothing, they should either back their refs, drop them or not say a word.

The game was there to be won and lost, Melbourne would be blowing up if they weren't allowed to play the ball. I know as a spectator I'd prefer if the player is making an attempt to get up and play it, it should be play on.
We've got to think if a Dragons player conceded a penalty in the ruck at that moment what would the consequences be? The siren's gone, game over then the Storm would be blowing up saying they were denied a chance to win or level it.
The amount of times they just blow full time prematurely far outweighs the times they don't.

The video ref allowed the Dragons try when Dugan was offside which to me is more concerning as they've got plenty of looks at it and the rule is black and white.

Saints should be looking at themselves for letting the Storm get in that position in the first place.

 

[Brissie Kid]

The NRL have handled this poorly. As the NRL have now admitted it was fulltime with the Dragons in front Doust is demanding the competition points be adjusted. You can't blame him. It was as obvious as night follows day that Dragons would claim the 2 points if the NRL admitted a a stuff up.

But it arguably wasn't a stuff up at all. I'm only guessing but maybe the rules put the control of fulltime in the hands of the referee for this very 50/50 situation.

Instead the NRL has put Cechin out to dry and that's after the 7 tackle rubbish from last year. He's not my favourite referee but I seriously hope someone from the NRL is helping him at the moment. But I can't help but feel the NRL added to the pressure on him when it could have instead stood behind him.

 

[dowdz]

Would of been a tough call live, and in the heat of the moment.

I, for one, could not be a ref. Tough job. I thought with the introduction of the video ref, that, things would be easier for the on field refs.

 

[Chip and Chase]

So according to the NRL the freeze frame shows that the siren sounded less than a second before the ball was played. So how quick do they expect the refs reflexes to be ? He has to hear the siren (let's forget about the millisecond delay in the speed of sound for a minute), react to that sound and then raise the whistle to his mouth and blow. There's a second gone.

Their solution is to have the video ref countdown the last ten seconds into the earpiece of the ref. So then the ref anticipates the siren and has the whistle poised to go. How long before we have a ref going off half a second early and denying a team a last play ?? Be a similar amount of whinging I presume.

I don't understand all the fuss. It might have been a tough call if you were a Merge fan, but it's a game officiated by humans, it's ridiculous to expect them to make a decision on something that was too close to call. Better off putting energy into things that they can improve, like passes that go clearly forward or getting players to play the ball on the mark. That's stuff that blind freddy can even see.

 

[wedgetail eagle]

Like the Mariners of old, the Sirens have lured Cechin to a rocky end.

 

[globaleagle]

NRL just released a 'sorry, we got it wrong Saints'. :s

The Demon Seed meanwhile have the 2 match points

I didn't really see that on nrl.com

It was more like...ok we looked at it with freeze frames and there was about a second in it.

So technically they got it wrong but gee whillikers it was close and you can't really blame us for that one hey guys, 'cause it was real close.

So we'll try and do better in the future by implementing new procedures....

.....like Jumping castles...yes jumping castles to distract everyone from the stuff ups we're making every single week.


Now to pay myself a bonus.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I really want to see the Chooks lose a match that way. Preferably a knock-out final.

 

[ssar]

On the Storm v Dragons play phase @ 80mins in melb. last Monday night:

I'm happy with the call.
It seems to be a fraction-of-a-second call to consider when the play-the-ball technically started and the official game time clock ticked over the end of the full 80min.
For mine, that was close enough and certainly within the margin of error more fans need to accept in the game.

I also think the Tigers v Sea Eagles play phase @ 40 mins the other week @ Leichardt was OK, though it did appear more than "a fraction-of-a-second" after the official game time clock ticked over for 40min - again, close enough.

I like to see the refs let those last-second plays go, before calling time off properly whilst the ball is "close enough" to still in play.

Sensationalized Telegraph-style hype over it, as well as claims "we were robbed", "give us a point each", "Dragons will lose half a mill$" blah blah are RIDICULOUS.