We’ve seen some significant NRL crackdowns come and go this year. Off the top of my head there’s been the ruck crack down, which was enforced vigorously until people complained about the dummy half milking penalties and then they went the other way, allowing for players to now fall asleep around the play the ball. There was the sin binathon, which faded away after the first SOO game highlighted how ridiculous the officiating had become. There was the play the ball penalties which have all but disappeared (although they can still pop up randomly from time to time). As far as I can tell, the only thing these knee jerk reactions have brought to the game is to create even more inconsistency and confusion. I’ve never seen a sporting competition go through so many administrative enforced changes in one half season.
It is simply because the refs always take the new instructions waaaaay too far. We sped up the ruck until we were literally playing touch footy. Then everyone complained. They sin binned every man and his dog for a while, then realised that it was ridiculous. If they simply enforced the new "instruction" with a small amount of common sense and balance then it would be a lot better.
The whole idea of crackdowns came from King toddy, trying to impose his self inflated ego on the game. Pathetic, but the problem is there is zero accountability for the pathetic management of the NRL. They just stumble blindly on, and point to higher tv viewers (thanks only to Souths and dragons having good seasons) to justify their ongoing amateur hour.
Common sense is all relative so in itself will create inconsistencies---so no it wont be a lot better.
Should of went harder and longer, now the game will revert back to coaches ruling and ruining the spectacle. Requires 2-3yrs at the very least to start changing the mindset from "how do we manipulate or find loopholes in rules to how do we just perform better within the rules"
The NRL folded like a piece of paper, and now what we have is random games where the rule changes and interpretations are plucked out of thin air.
Any chance they could spend 2 years cracking down on the foward passes ? I just saw a ripper for Melbournes first try.
