Serious question for our rules / strategy experts as a way to combat the momentum of these ridiculous 6 agains. Might seem silly but hear me out.
In circumstances where you concede a 6 again and the opponent gets a quick PTB and the defensive line is staggered and backpedaling and suddenly you're defensively exposed, what if you just deliberately shut the ball down to avoid it. What's going to happen? 6 again from the 0th tackle? Makes no difference, they won't call a penalty because it's in the 6-again area. Worst case you give the opponent a scrum, but I'd rather defend a scrum play with a set defensive line than have our middles scrambling.
Example:
Cleary goes into a tackle and does his 'play the ball the moment a hand is laid on me before the ref has called held' thing and Penrith get a quick PTB. our defence is retreating as Edwards runs from dummy half, he makes good metres but is just caught and flops around on the ground appealing for a 6-again and of course gets it. It's 0th tackle. What if, instead of just allowing Penrith to continue rolling and taking advantage of the momentum and retreating defensive line, the marker just jumps offside on purpose and lays on top of the ball in the PTB? Game has to stop, defensive line gets to reset and rest. What happens? Ref calls 6 again? It's already 0th tackle, who cares? Ref calls full penalty? I don't think the rules allow for that anymore. Ref calls scrum to Penrith? Still better than allowing play to continue.
I honestly have no idea what would happen if you deliberately forced play to stop in these scenarios and arrested the momentum of the team that received 6 again. Even if the ref does call a full arm penalty - that's just what the game used to be... Haven't you then essentially nullified the opponent's ability to take advantage of the 6 again?
