Captains challenge

[Porthoz]

The game is always going to make mistakes, whether it's through interpretations or questionable rules. By just accepting that and letting the games flow on there's a trade off there that most fans would be willing to accept.

For the record, I still believe we need to give the bunker more time. Fans have wanted to get rid of it ever since Paul Green chucked a tantrum 4 rounds into the competition, but it's an improvement over the older system. What I don't want to see is them increase their jurisdiction which is what we've seen happen from time to time where referees are being tipped off.

The game isn't like those other codes you're referring to. The NFL has a far more controlled environment with 40 seconds between each play. Not only do the umpires have the luxury to get themselves settled, but play always occurs from the centre so it's much easier to make a ruling and review it if it's wrong. The NRL is a different beast and if it takes you 5 seconds to play the ball, it's considered slow.

The point is that I'm not, and by the looks of things, most fans are not willing to accept the current standard of refereeing "mistakes".
If interpretations and/or rules are questionable, don't just live with the status-quo, fucking fix them!!

Almost every other code has had issues with refereeing standards, and has addressed them to be acceptable.

None of them is even close to as hopeless as the NRL is currently, and the disease comes and is spread from within the ivory tower, which wants to portray the competition as being even, and is artificially evening the odds, creating double standards and floating interpretations, according to what the score looks like and how many minutes are left to play.

I can live with an actually tough 50/50 decision going one way or the other. I cannot live with clear as day wrong decisions being taken through incompetence or worse, by design from above, to present our competition in a more favourable light, at least to the idiots in charge. The onfield and video refs in the NRL are currently nothing short of a joke!

I'm definitely not advocating continuous video review. We're talking captain challenges and scoring reviews only, done by accountable professionals with the accuracy rate from other codes.

Other codes don't care nearly as much about an equilibrium message. Blowouts and dominating teams are part of any collective sport.
I'm fine with using administrative means to balance the competition, not bending game rules and swaying refereeing!

 

[Big Pete]

I agree the officiating needs to be looked at, I disagree with increasing the video referee's jurisdiction and bringing more gamesmanship into the game.

 

[Porthoz]

I agree the officiating needs to be looked at, I disagree with increasing the video referee's jurisdiction and bringing more gamesmanship into the game.

If referees onfield or video box do a proper job, there should be no gamesmanship.
But given the Bellamys and Gallens of our game, give the onfield refs decisive power to grant a review, so they can nip in the bud any attempt by a captain to give his team a rest through some bullshit challenge.

 

[Big Pete]

When you leave it up to referee's discretion then you're just going to run into more problems.

 

[Porthoz]

When you leave it up to referee's discretion then you're just going to run into more problems.

Not if they're doing a proper job, which is the proviso. A good ref can certainly judge on the spot whether a decision is worth a review or not, to ensure smart arse players stop trying to abuse the system. And a good challenge can ensure a wrong referee decision from having a decisive impact on a game.

Shoving it in the too hard box is just contributing to the current state of affairs.

 

[Big Pete]

Not if they're doing a proper job, which is the proviso. A good ref can certainly judge on the spot whether a decision is worth a review or not, to ensure smart arse players stop trying to abuse the system. And a good challenge can ensure a wrong referee decision from having a decisive impact on a game.

That's all well and good, but it isn't going to be perfect and there's going to be fans like myself who don't enjoy the game being stopped for some video referee to bumble about and potentially come back with a bad decision.

 

[Mr Fourex]

That's all well and good, but it isn't going to be perfect and there's going to be fans like myself who don't enjoy the game being stopped for some video referee to bumble about and potentially come back with a bad decision.

Which is what we have right now.

You can accept a bad call made in real life time ...on the spot. It's unacceptable that they can replay it...100 times from 4-5 different camera angles

and still **** it up.

Scrap all of the techno shit and get it back to 1 ref and 2 touchies.

 

[Number6]

Which is what we have right now.

You can accept a bad call made in real life time ...on the spot. It's unacceptable that they can replay it...100 times from 4-5 different camera angles

and still **** it up.

Scrap all of the techno shit and get it back to 1 ref and 2 touchies.

Never going to happen. Not with TV technology and culture even cricket bent to it. On odd occasions watch soccer can't stand anything more than a fake fall over and penalty shot bad ruling which video would fix.

If you want minimalist video then captain challenge could be used to achieve that. If limit to try scoring situations then 1 incorrect challenge a half. Meaning far less tries will be adjudicated by video. Having more than 1 video ref voting (unable to communicate with each other so no collusion) in bunker limits risk of weird decisions.

Best thing for the game is it limits damage from bad decisions by shifting responsibility and perception of referring.

Bigger issue for me however is possible systemic bias and influence of referees in managing the game. A lot of ways to deal with this but can't deal with errors when refs apparently never make them unlike the rest of us. Captains challenge to general play is a big stick prefer not to have but sick of being f***** by the refs and then lied to. Might keep them honest.

 

[Porthoz]

That's all well and good, but it isn't going to be perfect and there's going to be fans like myself who don't enjoy the game being stopped for some video referee to bumble about and potentially come back with a bad decision.

No, that is just not acceptable. That is the idiocy we have now, which makes people want to throw it all away, and that is where capable professional arbiters come in. Because if you keep the Pattens in the box, then yes, you're right!
As to interruptions, I prefer the game being stopped once or twice to ensure the correct decision is taken, than to let it run and have a team lose a game, potentially even a Grand Final, on a ref blunder, because we don't enjoy an occasional stoppage.

I can't recall the last time a NFL video decision was argued against since the whole professional refs strike affair, and they have to adjudicate on the smallest of details sometimes. Based on evidence, they just get it right, practically every time, and if there is none, the onfield ruling stands. There is still the occasional miss, but that is where human error comes in, and that IS acceptable.

There is no reason the NRL can't have a (smaller of course) corps of referees as capable as the NFL does. But the rules have to be clear, the interpretations and the decisions have to be consistent no matter the score, the clock, or the amount of penalties already given.