The Penalites

[fLIP]

This is a short point and its probably going to be a controversial point if im honest with myself. In my opinion, more that ever, I feel there is an agenda against our club and we arent being allowed into games. It sounds outrageous and a little bit "tin foil hatter"; but my gut just keeps screaming at me, this isn't right, this is so bad its almost laughable.

Make it the last 3 games, (I want to extend it further), the perfect amount of games to add up with our supposed salary cap breach. I feel there is an agenda against us. Deep in my heart I feel like the NRL wants to expand and they've made the excuse that its better to relocate a team with a fan base than start afresh. I honestly feel like its us.

I sat patiently last wee through penalty after penalty and my heart said to myself ; "If you arent a premiership team you cant win this. One week later they lose to a team who's missing their number one recruit.

And here we are today. Im conditioned to accept a penalty. Im, watching with every ounce of knowledge i have of the game, waiting for it to be handed to the opposing team. And there is was.

Im no cynic. Im happy to call a spade a spade. IM ok with losing a game because we're the lesser team.

However, three weeks in a row now.(3 weeks since being hung on the cross), we've not been allowed to even get into the first half of football. I don't want to say there is a conspiracy, however, we arent mugs. We all know the rules of the game and when your first try of the game is held up for obstruction and there is NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, even remotely obstructive. You have to ask the question.

I agree, we've been absolutly rubbish the last few weeks, however, Im not sure we;re being allowed to even compete with the current (conspiracy) / standard of officiating and Im happy to be called a tin foil hatter.

Somethings not right with the refs and it stinks.

Tapou plays the ball with his foot and its a penalty, What a joke.

 

[Clay]

Thompson stood in the line, was a no try. Sure Williams milked it for all its worth but that is the rule. All Thompson had to do was jog past the line but it was a lazy effort.

Missed the Tapau penalty

 

[Fluffy]

There has to be something, no way in the world can the refs be that bad.

We know there are "tip sheets" sent to the refs so would have to be pretty naive not to think they wouldn't be asked to do things for the greater good of the game.

I see it in non Manly games too often as well.

Funnily enough most of the recent top refs only seem to come good in the last few years and seem much more fair and far less penalties in total.

 

[HappilyManly]

Tapau was ruled as 'Unacceptable' play the ball as he was leaning on one hand

Rule is that a player places the ball, stands and places a foot on the ball

Again, this happens in every game, but Manly are the ones who get an actual penalty

It is however completely Marty's fault and just shows his lazy attitude in an area that the Refs have announced as a priority

 

[Aussie Battler]

I am no referee aficionado, but essentially the more crappier team you are, the more crappier deal you get. Over the last couple of years we have slid to the crappier end of the spectrum and now our chickens or whatever other animal you name have come home to roost.

 

[sheridanstand78]

The fifth tackle penalties we incurred today set the pattern for today's match! It is frustrating that the same rules don't apply to both teams as the Whingers were just as guilty and not penalized, our discipline hit new lows today, that is something that needs immediate attention

 

[malroon]

no excuses ,its been happening to Manly for decades , no different this year to previous years..

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

It's an incontrovertible fact that the decisions rugby league referees make - as well as the decisions they don't make, and when they make (or don't make) them - have a huge impact on every game. More than pretty much any other sport I can think of, they can have a huge bearing on the flow of a game and therefore its result.
And there's no doubt in my mind that referees come into every game with a set of preconceptions (including "tip sheets", NRL directives/preferred outcomes and media coverage) about every player and each team. There's no getting around it. But just how far do those NRL directives go? And is it "cheating" or just the inevitable bias of the system?
Buggered if I know.
What I do know is that I expect decisions to go against us every game. The players and coaches should expect it, too. It's not like we walked into an ambush today. We all knew what was coming - that every "interpretation" would not be in our favour; that every time we crossed the line it'd be "sent upstairs" for inspection. Which put the onus on us to be as close to perfect as we could possibly be.
The obstruction call on Thompson. Yeah, there's no chance in hell Tony Williams would have stopped it, but Thompson stood still in the defensive line instead of ambling through it, which gave them a perfectly good excuse to take the try off us. Same with Marty's play the ball. Players do it every week, but if the ref wants to penalise it, he's entitled to do so. Does it **** me that the same rules don't seem to apply to the other team? That a Parramatta player can play the ball while he's directly facing the sideline and no one bats an eye? Of course it does. But it doesn't make us any less dumb.

 

[Brooke]

It seems to me with the last two games we have been penalised really hard in the first half and it has affected the result. I am not saying the results would have been any different but it is certainly frustrating to watch. I can understand the players getting frustrated.

 

[BirdMan4ever]

The play the ball rule is just another way to control the game in the direction of the favoured team to win. I can assure u even the great Sea Eagles of 2007 - 2011 would struggle in the current environment.

 

[ALinda]

Well said @fLIP you sound exactly like how I feel. Today once again the first penalty was against us and then another 3 followed in succession. A complete momentum killer! This has been the case for at least the last 3 weeks or more and I'm sick of it. Its at the point where it wouldn't matter how disciplined we are, we're behind the 8 ball from the get go. Some of the things we were penalized for today or had tries disallowed, etc were a joke, just utter nitpicking and any excuse was used to stop us from winning.
Like you, I too am wondering if its all a conspiracy to get rid of Manly so the NRL can expand to other areas.

 

[Bird of Prey]

Let’s see if these nitpicking penalties flow to the state of origin games or will it go out the window.

 

[niccipops]

It definitely seemed that the game followed the same refereeing pattern/directive as last week.
Jake looks so sad and frustrated he looks about to crack. Psychology plays a huge role and I really feel for him. I hope it doesn't lead him to a brain explosion - sin bin or send off, or worse, an injury due to his head not being in the right place.

 

[grassy]

I am no referee aficionado, but essentially the more crappier team you are, the more crappier deal you get. Over the last couple of years we have slid to the crappier end of the spectrum and now our chickens or whatever other animal you name have come home to roost.

Yea that’s right, we don’t seem to be disciplined enough to warrant top 8 and that’s not to mention a premiership. We have some serious off field dramas also. I still can’t believe they are going to strip clubs. That’s not dicipline,that’s the pits bringing themselves down to that level. I am still not over that bull crap. My team going to strip clubs, that I am really dirty on as I thought we were better than that. I would be ashamed to be playing that game. All that crap carries over onto the field and there is NO BONDING in that ****. It’s even worse when the media gets hold of that.What good can come from it? Imagine having a great name playing footy and then being found out going to strip clubs, that’s what destroys players and teams.Sorry for the rant but it pissess me off knowing that they are doing this ****.

 

[castle eagle]

i tipped it to others through the week that on the eels first or second set of attack there would be a penalty leading to another one or two. its happening each week latelyand i know my tin foil hat isn't responsible for this way of thinking as others who follow other teams are starting to take notice of it too

 

[simon64]

Come on guys. An NRL conspiracy to get rid of Manly ? You may as well be flat earthers. I know we all like to believe in "Manly loading" etc, but the bad thing about laying the blame at the feet of others is you automatically remove all the power you have to change what is happening to you.

But I will say this.

Over the past 2 weeks especially, we seem to be being penalised for those "grey area" penalties like inside the 10 and play the ball infringements like not being square. And what's worse, the referees are pinging us on tackle 4 and 5 giving the other mob a free ride downfield.

But we are compounding the problem by turning the ball over when we do actually get it. The upshot is we barely get more than 30% of possession. How the f**k are you supposed to score without the ball ? If we address this we will go a long way to fixing the problem.

And I have said already, we have to stop the opposition getting repeat sets. Something that will become infinitely more difficult if they're not playing it on the 5th inside our 20.

It's not a complicated game. I hope that those grey area penalties start going our way for once. Because they start the ball rolling and frankly we are not resilient enough to stem the tide right now.

 

[G-land Express]

I reckon we'd be top of the ladder for teams that concede a penalty after 3rd tackle i.e. 3rd, 4th or 5th and at bottom of ladder for receiving them. And we'd be at top of ladder for receiving 1st or 2nd tackle "even up" penalties. I've got no idea really but just putting it out there.

 

[Eddie Rapido]

It would be interesting to see the figures.

 

[Simonmyers11]

Come on guys. An NRL conspiracy to get rid of Manly ? You may as well be flat earthers. I know we all like to believe in "Manly loading" etc, but the bad thing about laying the blame at the feet of others is you automatically remove all the power you have to change what is happening to you.

But I will say this.

Over the past 2 weeks especially, we seem to be being penalised for those "grey area" penalties like inside the 10 and play the ball infringements like not being square. And what's worse, the referees are pinging us on tackle 4 and 5 giving the other mob a free ride downfield.

But we are compounding the problem by turning the ball over when we do actually get it. The upshot is we barely get more than 30% of possession. How the f**k are you supposed to score without the ball ? If we address this we will go a long way to fixing the problem.

And I have said already, we have to stop the opposition getting repeat sets. Something that will become infinitely more difficult if they're not playing it on the 5th inside our 20.

It's not a complicated game. I hope that those grey area penalties start going our way for once. Because they start the ball rolling and frankly we are not resilient enough to stem the tide right now.

We are not getting any repeat sets either. Last year green and DCE were first and second in that department.

No possession, giving away too many penalties, silly errors and not building any pressure

 

[grassy]

The refs certainly have not been kind to us especially in the first half of our games in the last few weeks but our problem lies in our mental state.Sounds like a few players need counciling and that’s probably an understatement. There is no conspiracy here as the only conspiracy is what we are doing to ourselves.We have to learn to play to the whistle a little better and realise what we are bringing to the game from the outside of it, matters when we are in it.We can’t just get into a game and switch of from our actions outside of it if they are morally and understandably flawed. They need to be able to concentrate out there. Hence dropped balls that a blind man could catch.Our past history shows this clearly for all to see.