NRL General Discussion Thread - 2016

[Big Pete]

Players must embody the spirit and values of the Bulldogs


​If he ticks that box, I am seriously disappoint.

It's like I said, if they're cool with naming Mason, then they should have no problem selecting Sonny.

The piece of criteria does come off looking silly, but I doubt the organisers saw it as anything more than a bit of fluff to make the list sound more prestigious than it really was.

 

[Super Freak]

Raiders dealt with a double blow.

Soliola is out for the season from a fractured cheekbone and Hodgson is out for 2 weeks from an ankle injury.

 

[Rally Towel]

Raiders dealt with a double blow.

Soliola is out for the season from a fractured cheekbone and Hodgson is out for 2 weeks from an ankle injury.

Ouch. Losing Hodgson on top of Williams is a big blow for them. You'd think Baptiste finally has his chance to impress with a run at 9? Hope he goes on with it.

Sia has been a bit lacklustre in recent weeks but they'll be weaker for his absence I think. Maybe TPJ might get a run?

 

[Dexter]

Bunnies could find themselves clinging to the 8 with their run home being Cows Dogs Broncos and Chooks.

The Chooks look the goods closely followed by Cowboys then us IMO.

Amazing job the Roosters have done keeping that team under the cap

 

[Unbreakable]

Lichaa out for the season apparently, there goes the Bulldogs hopes.

 

[Alec]

Michael Ennis probably goes "Well, well, well..." somewhere.

 

[Big Pete]

Lichaa out for the season? What did he do?

...Did the Judiciary have enough and rule his forward passes as contrary conduct?

 

[Morkel]

Lichaa out for the season? What did he do?

...Did the Judiciary have enough and rule his forward passes as contrary conduct?

And subsequently injured him.

 

[Unbreakable]

I wonder what the Eagles are going to do next year with both Koroisau and Parcell coming..

A)

1. Stewart
2. Hiku
3. Lyon (c)
4. Matai
5. Taufua
6. Koroisau
7. Cherry-Evans
9. Parcell

B)

1. Stewart
2. Trbojevic
3. Hiku
4. Matai
5. Taufua
6. Lyon (c)
7. Cherry-Evans
9. Koroisau/Parcell
14. Koroisau/Parcell

 

[Super Freak]

SOME of the most powerful figures in rugby league have floated the idea of a breakaway 12-team competition in a bid to oust NRL CEO Dave Smith. Last week’s TV negotiations, which saw Fox Sports and Telstra cut out of the deal, is the latest in a growing list of frustrations they have with Mr Smith and Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman John Grant.

The new competition would be made up by the 12 clubs, whose NRL participation agreements end at the conclusion of the 2017 season.

Of those 12, four are leading the rebel league discussions with the goal of getting Mr Smith and Mr Grant torpedoed out of office.

Under the radical proposal the four clubs currently being propped up by the NRL – Wests Tigers, St *George Illawarra, Newcastle and Gold Coast – would be left out of the new competition.

The push has been discussed among some of the most influential figures in rugby league who remain furious at a range of NRL decisions, including cutting key stakeholders Fox Sports and Telstra out of the TV negotiations.

Their anger was intensified after News Corp and the Seven Network partnered to give the AFL a record $2.5 billion television deal.

The inconsistencies from the NRL match review committee and the judiciary in *relation to the shoulder charges are also a key concern of the powerbrokers, as well as the multi-million dollar blow-out of executive salaries and the number of staff employed since Smith was appointed at the start of 2013.

An email sent last week *detailing how the 12-team breakaway competition would be structured, with the prospect of additional teams being added in Brisbane and Perth to make a 14-team competition.

In order for the NRL clubs to pass a vote of no-confidence in the ARL Commission they need a 75 per cent vote from the 16 existing clubs. The breakaway scenario *remains highly unlikely but *illustrates the current level of discontent with the NRL head office.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...eave-competition/story-fni2flhh-1227494555625

 

[ivanhungryjak]

I wouldn't believe a word coming from the News journos at the moment. Uncle Rupert is obviously very pissed at the Nine deal and his minions are playing the game.
Smith does need to bring home the bacon though with the rest of the broadcast rights or he may as well pack his bags.

 

[broncos4life]

Would love another breakaway competition. It won't happen but I'm completely over the NSWRL

 

[Morkel]

Would love another breakaway competition. It won't happen but I'm completely over the NSWRL

What makes you think the powerbrokers behind the breakaway comp aren't the ones who hate the Independent Commission for being... independent? They want the clubs to have the power, and when there are so many clubs in Sydney, guess where the balance of power will be?

 

[Super Freak]

Morgan diagnosed with an ankle syndesmosis injury.

He has a slim chance of returning this season. It will depend on how far Cowboys go in the finals.

 

[Morkel]

Morgan diagnosed with an ankle syndesmosis injury.

He has a slim chance of returning this season. It will depend on how far Cowboys go in the finals.

For the love of SVRL, RULE HIM OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Morkel]

Here's my latest bitch on the NRL refereeing, and it kind of encompasses everything bitch I have previously bitched about.

As a whole, it seems to me that the refereeing is not only reactionary at the top level, but lazy. By that, I mean that they let things deteriorate to a point where everyone is sick of players doing X, so they eventually have a crackdown or a "rule change" to fix the problem. If they'd just do their job thoroughly from the start, there wouldn't need to be crackdowns. Here's some recent examples:

* Wrestling: Here's a simple fix - when the ref calls "held", all players need to get off immediately. IMMEDIATELY. Penalising the "peel" helps somewhat, but again it's a belated reaction to letting them lie in the ruck in the first place. "Oh but with that many tacklers in a ruck it's impossible to get off immediately. They'll get penalised every ruck". That's your problem, coaches. Less defenders, less wrestling, manipulation, and twisting up. Get twisted up, the player can't play the ball immediately, penalty. Could it be exploited by the ball-carrier? Sure it could. Coach your teams to avoid it.

* Video Ref: My most vocal bitch. Instead of pretending there was no mistake by the refs, they completely overhauled the way it was to be done. Stupidly, had the new system been employed with Foran's "Hand Of God" try, and the ref called it a no-try (as was the consensus at the time), awarding the try would STILL be the wrong answer! Go back to the old system, where if the ref doesn't know, go to the video ref and say "**** knows". The mistake they made was the "benefit of the doubt", which should only be used on a 50:50 call. Instead they bullshitted and said that because there was "some doubt" the try was awarded. Was it 50:50 doubt? **** no, it was 5% doubt at best. They fucked up, just say sorry.

* Play The Ball: How many PTB's are done properly these days? **** all. Wasn't there a crackdown a couple of years ago? And they've just let it go back to the same old shit. Why? Because if they penalised them all there would be a penalty every 2 PTB's. Tonight, Ferguson even played it from a restart (so everyone was stopped and standing watching), the ref was right next to him, and he just rolled it between his legs. Lazy fucking ref just let it go. I saw about 3 tonight too where they played it at a 90 degree angle, not backwards like it should. No penalties.

* "Shot Clock": Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there already a 40 second limit in place for drop-outs? When the **** was that scrapped? This talk of shot clocks next year for drop-outs and scums just smells of shit that should already have been managed, or already have rules in place, but because of laziness they now have to bring it in AGAIN.

So why do the refs let players get away with stuff? Because of this ridiculous notion of letting a game "flow". That "putting the whistle away" is better for the spectacle. And the argument that if the ref penalises every infringement then there will be no game to watch. **** that. The onus should on the players to play within the rules, not the ref to have to "manage" the penalties given in order to let the game proceed. And this evening up bullshit. The refs are fucking terrified of looking biased or having coaches berate them for uneven penalty counts. If a team is undisciplined or deliberately push the rules, penalise them! Recently coaches have been going to the refs bosses questioning decisions. The bosses have been pointing out how the penalties were valid. The coaches then say "yeah, so how come the other team was not penalised for doing exactly the same thing on these occasions here?". That's what you get when refs "manage" games and try to even it up. You get a team like the Roosters who happily give away blatant penalties when under the pump. Absolutely blatant, to the point of being deliberate gamesmanship and worthy of sin-bins. But to even out the count, they'll penalise the opposition for the tiniest little indiscretion or, worse, a blatant milk. The Roosters will get away with 4 or 5 of exactly the same thing in the next 5 minutes, with the ref letting them go because they know they'll eventually pull out another blatant one and the ref can blow that, even it up, and look all unbiased when the ref reports go to the boss.

TLDR, if a player infringes, penalise. For everything. Every penalty that does not get blown is another point the coaches will push and as we've seen, it'll fester and become a blight on the game. Penalise it every time. At the moment it's a trick of pushing the rules the furthest to win the game. If there's penalties everywhere, it won't take coaches long to realise that the team that gets penalised the least wins the game. Actively cleaning it up will become the winning tactic. Problem solved.

 

[Browny]

Spot on. Having played League and Union most refs would tell you before kick off his pet peeves. Early on you worked out where the line was for penalties. Sick of the media running the game

 

[Mr Fourex]

Here's my latest bitch on the NRL refereeing, and it kind of encompasses everything bitch I have previously bitched about.

I'm going to bitch about this first line Morkel ....it's confusing.