Stripping rule

[Chip and Chase]

They have effectively made a copy book "legs tackle" obsolete in the modern game. There is no reward for that skill, there is only punishment for not releasing fast enough to allow a quick play the ball. Why would you bother ? - you end up giving away a penalty, or in the worst examples spending 10 in the bin for a professional foul because you felt entitled to bask in the glory of your scything cover defence effort and hung on a nanosecond too long.

Anyway, no matter what the interpretation of the rules the officials wish to apply, our NRL coaches will exploit the extremities of it every time. They aren't interested in "spirit of the game" and the "intention" of the rules, all they want to do is win and they will test the boundaries of interpretation every time. Little wonder the officials get forced into black/white decisions to remove the controversial grey areas. Look at the obstruction rule, what a cluster that is. In the old days everyone knew what a shepherd was, now it's outside shoulders, lead runners, bad defensive reads etc. Same as @maxta example of knock on... too difficult to police so everything is now a knock on. I'd love to know how they decide when a player reefs the ball from an attacker and it spills free, who touched it last and which way it went and who knocked it on. ?? they have no idea even with slow mo replays.

 

[John Nicholson]

They have effectively made a copy book "legs tackle" obsolete in the modern game. There is no reward for that skill, there is only punishment for not releasing fast enough to allow a quick play the ball. Why would you bother ? - you end up giving away a penalty, or in the worst examples spending 10 in the bin for a professional foul because you felt entitled to bask in the glory of your scything cover defence effort and hung on a nanosecond too long.

Anyway, no matter what the interpretation of the rules the officials wish to apply, our NRL coaches will exploit the extremities of it every time. They aren't interested in "spirit of the game" and the "intention" of the rules, all they want to do is win and they will test the boundaries of interpretation every time. Little wonder the officials get forced into black/white decisions to remove the controversial grey areas. Look at the obstruction rule, what a cluster that is. In the old days everyone knew what a shepherd was, now it's outside shoulders, lead runners, bad defensive reads etc. Same as @maxta example of knock on... too difficult to police so everything is now a knock on. I'd love to know how they decide when a player reefs the ball from an attacker and it spills free, who touched it last and which way it went and who knocked it on. ?? they have no idea even with slow mo replays.

The last bit is easy - treat it as a ruck infringement and give the attacking side another six.

Stops endless wrestles occurring with the intent of resetting the defensive line. The ref should be proactive as well by giving an early "tackle" call.

 

[Tragic Eagle]

The rules are made far too complicated. It’s a simple game.

 

[HoldenV8]

Ok now we are talking debatable footy issues, I have an absolute pet hate....
Every time a ball is dropped in the modern game, there is no such thing as a knock back....its like touch footy where a dropped ball is an automatic knock on...even if lost back 3 metres - Knock on ???

That also has become dependent on which team drops the ball. Some teams can drop it backwards and every time it gets called as a knock on. Others can blatantly drop it forwards and a lot of the time the refs call a strip even if the replays clearly show the ball carrier just lost control of it.

Like when a close range try is scored and the defensive team en mass all throw their arms in the air and start appealing for obstruction. Its become a get out of gaol free card for some teams.

 

[castle eagle]

They have effectively made a copy book "legs tackle" obsolete in the modern game. There is no reward for that skill, there is only punishment for not releasing fast enough to allow a quick play the ball. Why would you bother ? - you end up giving away a penalty, or in the worst examples spending 10 in the bin for a professional foul because you felt entitled to bask in the glory of your scything cover defence effort and hung on a nanosecond too long.

they could make it plain & simple, ref calls held and counts to 5(or 6,7,8,9 whatever).
if all defenders aren't clear then a penalty is given. no excuses except if a ref can see the attacker is holding the defender down.
this simple rule would stop the cuddle, dance & fall that is currently the way it goes & it would also reward a 1 on 1 low tackle as each time someone is tackled the same amount of time is given for defenders to be clear.
if you want to gang tackle you could have 3 or 4 players struggling to get clear instead of 1 or 2 when it is time

 

[StuBoot]

Either that or a double-edged sword, gotta be one or the other

 

[Woodsie]

they could make it plain & simple, ref calls held and counts to 5(or 6,7,8,9 whatever).

We have dumbed down the footballers to the point that ref's already have to count the number of tackles and tell the players when it is the last .... surely we don't need to give the ref another job of counting down to when the players get off ....

If no effort is made to get up ... or 3rd man in plays no significant role in effecting the tackle, but simply falls on a tackled player ..... blow a ****ing penalty ....

 

[manlywarringah]

The referees need to call held earlier and that would solve so much of the wrestle and the dance that goes on now. It would also solve the 3 man in and 2 drop off ball strip as that takes time.

We've all sat back and watched a tackle that can go on for 3 or 4 seconds where the attacking player is caught and going nowhere yet the ref doesn't call held. It bugs the crap out of me.

Call held earlier when the momentum has stopped and then the defending team will have 3 men around the ruck and no time for the 3rd one to get back to the defensive line and would be one man down. That would stop a lot of the gang tackling.

 

[Woodsie]

The referees need to call held earlier and that would solve so much of the wrestle and the dance that goes on now. It would also solve the 3 man in and 2 drop off ball strip as that takes time.

We've all sat back and watched a tackle that can go on for 3 or 4 seconds where the attacking player is caught and going nowhere yet the ref doesn't call held. It bugs the crap out of me.

Call held earlier when the momentum has stopped and then the defending team will have 3 men around the ruck and no time for the 3rd one to get back to the defensive line and would be one man down. That would stop a lot of the gang tackling.

Good point ... the arguement against calling held early is that they are giving the attacking player the opportunity to off-load ... but realistically that occurs about one in every 30 tackles ... and surely an experienced ref can make an educated guess whether an off-load is likely ...

Also when they do call held ... the players use that as their signal to collapse the wrestle to the ground .... if they don't release immediately when held is called .... blow a ****ing penalty ..

 

[John Nicholson]

That also has become dependent on which team drops the ball. Some teams can drop it backwards and every time it gets called as a knock on. Others can blatantly drop it forwards and a lot of the time the refs call a strip even if the replays clearly show the ball carrier just lost control of it.

Like when a close range try is scored and the defensive team en mass all throw their arms in the air and start appealing for obstruction. Its become a get out of gaol free card for some teams.

Once again, keep it simple.

If the ball hits the ground "in the process of an attempted strip", restart the tackle count. Does not apply if the attacking player drops the ball cold.

The "6 again" rule should then curtail
▪deliberate penalties
▪endless wrestling to slow the ruck
▪The debate of whether the stripped ball is knocked forward or back, thus reducing the attempts to rake it out or knock it out of the attacking players hands.