You're now in charge of the NRL

This thread is so sad to read. We've gone so far from regular old footy rules over the years.

Midean said:

just two things and i would be happy.

Remove the 6 again rule.

And pay the refs based on their performance.

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Adding to my list after this morning.

*Remove Penrith from the competition*

Remove the ultra slow mo replays.
Get optical health care for the refs

If I’m in charge of the NRL, this means I’m Vlandys and therefore, I would do four things:

1. Avoid all mirrors at all costs as I don’t want to break them by looking at them
2. Issue an apology for all the damage I’ve done to the game
3. Immediately rescind any changes I’ve made to league over the last two years
4. Sack myself and put in a clause that Abdo goes down with me

Sproj said:

If I’m in charge of the NRL, this means I’m Vlandys and therefore, I would do four things:

1. Avoid all mirrors at all costs as I don’t want to break them by looking at them
2. Issue an apology for all the damage I’ve done to the game
3. Immediately rescind any changes I’ve made to league over the last two years
4. Sack myself and put in a clause that Abdo goes down with me

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How do we go about arranging a Freaky Friday-esque body swap?

Sproj said:

If I’m in charge of the NRL, this means I’m Vlandys and therefore, I would do four things:

1. Avoid all mirrors at all costs as I don’t want to break them by looking at them
2. Issue an apology for all the damage I’ve done to the game
3. Immediately rescind any changes I’ve made to league over the last two years
4. Sack myself and put in a clause that Abdo goes down with me

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I prefer to look at it as Vlandys has been sacked and i've been put in charge ... but whatever floats your boat

Mister Wright said:

7 tackle sets only for kicks outside the 30m. No way should teams get rewarded for a dropped ball over the line or a grubber that goes dead 5m out.
Ditch the 6-again. It is shit.

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100% this. I also think a kick off that goes out on the full should be a tap at halfway not a kick for touch.

My main one is the ref's ref the rules, and this "game management" thing in the past. It would be a month of bad footy but the reward would be huge.

mrslong said:

My main one is the ref's ref the rules, and this "game management" thing in the past. It would be a month of bad footy but the reward would be huge.

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THIS.

REFS, PLEASE: call players by number, not name - you're not their mate. Stop coaching them - you're not their coach. They are professionals in their field, as are you - they do not need your guidance on how to play the game. If they're not doing the right thing, blow the penalty FFS.

Have another crack down, NRL hold their nerve and we'll be back to much better football within the month.

LittleDavey said:

REFS, PLEASE: call players by number, not name - you're not their mate. Stop coaching them - you're not their coach.

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I love you man, this is my number 1 pet hate and to me, this encapsulates the whole issue with modern day rugby league. Calling players by name is unprofessional, as is warning them. This is one of the few areas that Rugby Union get it right.

Scrap the captain's challenge

Come up with a better system than the independent doctor HIA stoppage

Introduce a trade window after the season, mid-season transfers are still permissable

Introduce a new team by 2025 adding an extra 24 games to the TV rights

Come up with a better marketing campaign. Try to promote the personalities of the players, the significance of the premierships and the rivalry of the teams.

Continue the develop the digital output arm. Would team with @Super Freak and other content creators to create YouTube documentaries or analysis. Whatever footage they needed, we'd sign off on while taking a cut of their videos.

In a similar vein, I'd make all the stats since 1998 widely available to the fans to help celebrate momentous occasions like players surpassing a certain metres gained stat.

A brand new Rugby League video game series. Gimmick of the game will be celebrating the history of the game with Wally Lewis, Andrew Johns, Stacey Jones, Adrian Morley etc. involved. There would a Ultimate Team type of mechanic for online play. The focus would be to make it a fun video game for casuals, as opposed to a hardcore Rugby League game. Try to make it affordable, and then create a freemium model.

Come up with a better campaign at schools. Try to come up with the Rugby League answer to Ozkick and make Rugby League more accessible to kids and high school students. Try to create a surplus of talent to help build a stronger product in both NRL and NRLW plus strong second tier systems.

Have Danika Mason on both Channel 9 and Fox

OXY-351 said:

Have Danika Mason on both Channel 9 and Fox

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And naked news

What's with you blokes, geez. Allana Ferguson is so much hotter than Danika and actually knows a bit about the game to boot

Just referee according to the rules. No leniency/tolerance or grey areas. The ruck is a total mess because of this bullshit.

When "held" is called, the ball carrier needs to be free to stand up and play it immediately. If defenders are twisted up and/or on top, if they can't get off immediately it's a penalty. That would stop 90% of the wrestle as it would be counter-productive to get all mangled up to slow it down. The most effective tackles will be ones where you can put the player down on the ground and be able to release immediately and get to marker.

Conversely, the play-the ball needs to be clean. Player has to get to their feet, put the ball down on the mark (not in front or to the side to take the markers out of play), the ball is planted, not rolled, or it's deemed a loss of control (same rule as a knock on). Ball is rolled back with foot. Person playing the ball can not hold or interfere with the markers, just as defenders are currently not allowed to push or interfere with whoever is playing the ball. This would stop all the tunnel-ball, playing off the mark, interfering with markers, etc.

In turn, defensive line can not move off the line until the ball has cleared the ruck, which is commonly accepted as when the player playing the ball touches it with their foot.

All of these things being stripped back to the original rules means that it is all enforcable and as clear cut as any other rule. Eg, there is zero tolerance on being on-side on kicks, so if you are even slighly in front, you're off-side. So if you move off the defensive line even a fraction of a second before the player touches the ball with his foot in the PTB, it's off-side. If you don't put the ball down exactly on the spot, or don't plant it firm (no rolling), or don't roll it with foot, penalty. No grey areas means no ways to exploit "interpretations" or "tolerances".

I am the opposite to most it seems, I'd love to see a ref with a feel for the game and the best refs do.

Manson, Ward, Harrigan they all understood the game and had a feel. They knew the black and white rules but had a great feel.

I remember Manson saying once the penalty you don't give is sometimes more important than the penalty you do give.

We've lost that because we have made it so confusing in our attempts to make it not confusing.

1910 said:

I am the opposite to most it seems, I'd love to see a ref with a feel for the game and the best refs do.

Manson, Ward, Harrigan they all understood the game and had a feel. They knew the black and white rules but had a great feel.

I remember Manson saying once the penalty you don't give is sometimes more important than the penalty you do give.

We've lost that because we have made it so confusing in our attempts to make it not confusing.

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And different people, on different days, felt differently depending on a range of things. That's why that stupid game management feel shit doesn't work.

1910 said:

I am the opposite to most it seems, I'd love to see a ref with a feel for the game and the best refs do.

Manson, Ward, Harrigan they all understood the game and had a feel. They knew the black and white rules but had a great feel.

I remember Manson saying once the penalty you don't give is sometimes more important than the penalty you do give.

We've lost that because we have made it so confusing in our attempts to make it not confusing.

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I notice you haven't named a single current ref.

You may have a point, if we still had refs of that quality ... but sadly, we don't