NRL General Discussion Thread

[Big Pete]

There's a big issue with it. The penalty is the sin bin, 2 free interchanges completely changes a game.

The second big issue is being able to swap who comes on and off. If Munster needs to go off to be assessed, when he comes back he should be replacing the player who come on for him in the first place.

Why do Welch/Nelson get a free swap when Munster was the person hit?

The rule was never introduced to give teams two free interchanges, it was to prevent a team from being penalized by losing an interchange to a player who was injured from foul play.

They aren't always going to receive a sin bin, in fact, a lot of fans feel like they were lucky to receive it in that instance.

The fact of the matter is, you're better off hitting a back high than a forward because at least you're not giving away a free interchange. It's a completely ridiculous scenario where somehow one position is inferior to another because of the state of the game but that's how it is. So Melbourne figured out a way to fix that and make it work for them in a way that is completely within the rules. Even so, they only received the one interchange, whereas Eisenhuth got to have a spell from a shot that wouldn't have hurt a fly and got to replace a different player effectively giving Penrith two fresh troops as opposed to the Storm's one.

It may not have been the intention of the rule but neither was the stripping rule and fans by and large seem to be fine with it. Coaches are constantly finding ways to exploit the rules, we're seeing that now with the way teams control the six again count.

 

[Dexter]

I sincerely doubt the Storm worked out how to work the system like that in the 30 secs they had.
This has highlighted a glitch in the rules and it's on the NRL to fix it but really it's not a scenario that will happen very often.

 

[Waynesaurus]

The storm have HIA's planned to their advantage like clockwork for their interchanges, they also totally ignored the fact the both Papenhuyzen and Grant should have left the field and not returned because they suffered head knocks and fell to the ground uncontrolled....regardless of them passing their on field HIA test.

The Storm totally ignored their duty of care for the players in order to win that game.

 

[Kimlo]

They aren't always going to receive a sin bin, in fact, a lot of fans feel like they were lucky to receive it in that instance.

The fact of the matter is, you're better off hitting a back high than a forward because at least you're not giving away a free interchange. It's a completely ridiculous scenario where somehow one position is inferior to another because of the state of the game but that's how it is. So Melbourne figured out a way to fix that and make it work for them in a way that is completely within the rules. Even so, they only received the one interchange, whereas Eisenhuth got to have a spell from a shot that wouldn't have hurt a fly and got to replace a different player effectively giving Penrith two fresh troops as opposed to the Storm's one.

It may not have been the intention of the rule but neither was the stripping rule and fans by and large seem to be fine with it. Coaches are constantly finding ways to exploit the rules, we're seeing that now with the way teams control the six again count.

Sorry that doesn't address the issue at all. Even if it's a forward, that's fine, the rule was never put in place to get a free interchange to benefit a team, it was to prevent a team being disadvanted by a forced interchange through injury by foul play. There's already incentive not to maim someone, the team gets penalized and a sin bin/sent off.

Like I said, the solution is very very simple. Player goes off, free interchange, he can come back on and it's a free interchange only if he replaces the player who replaced him and it must be done within 15 minutes. There's still room to be exploited but far less room.

There should never be a case where teams get a free interchange on a totally different player because they game the rules.

 

[Big Pete]

Sorry that doesn't address the issue at all. Even if it's a forward, that's fine, the rule was never put in place to get a free interchange to benefit a team, it was to prevent a team being disadvanted by a forced interchange through injury by foul play. There's already incentive not to maim someone, the team gets penalized and a sin bin/sent off.

Like I said, the solution is very very simple. Player goes off, free interchange, he can come back on and it's a free interchange only if he replaces the player who replaced him and it must be done within 15 minutes. There's still room to be exploited but far less room.

There should never be a case where teams get a free interchange on a totally different player because they game the rules.

The whole point is that teams are exploiting the team regardless and get away with it because it's usually a disposable player. Take Matt Eisenhuth for example who suffered a hit that wouldn't have hurt a fly, he came off to inject Fisher-Harris back into the game and then came onto replace Liam Martin who was due to come off. He didn't need to come from the field to be assessed, they just took their interchange and good on them. Now why should a hit on a back be worth less than a hit on a forward? There is no reason and Bellamy to his credit found a way to make it work for his team.

Whether the rule needs to be amended or not I'm not entirely sure. I'm sure a lot of coaches will follow his lead though and he had every right to make it.

 

[Kimlo]

The whole point is that teams are exploiting the team regardless and get away with it because it's usually a disposable player. Take Matt Eisenhuth for example who suffered a hit that wouldn't have hurt a fly, he came off to inject Fisher-Harris back into the game and then came onto replace Liam Martin who was due to come off. He didn't need to come from the field to be assessed, they just took their interchange and good on them. Now why should a hit on a back be worth less than a hit on a forward? There is no reason and Bellamy to his credit found a way to make it work for his team.

Whether the rule needs to be amended or not I'm not entirely sure. I'm sure a lot of coaches will follow his lead though and he had every right to make it.

I'm not saying a back or a forward should be worth less. In no case should a player other than the one affected be interchanged for free.

I'm surprised you're okay with clear gamesmanship of the rules. Rules that are introduced with player welfare in mind, being exploited, is ultimate scummery to be, but I'll agree to disagree.

 

[Big Pete]

I'm not saying a back or a forward should be worth less. In no case should a player other than the one affected be interchanged for free.

I'm surprised you're okay with clear gamesmanship of the rules. Rules that are introduced with player welfare in mind, being exploited, is ultimate scummery to be, but I'll agree to disagree.

Teams have been exploiting the rules for decades. Forwards will gladly take the free interchange even when the rule was designed to save teams an interchange when one of their players was forced from the field due to foul play. I don't see the problem with being smart with the rules in that instance because teams made a mockery of it a long time ago.

The only cause for concern was whether it influenced Adam Gee's decision to bin Radley. Otherwise take that free interchange you're entitled to like every other team does.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

The problem I see with it is that PVL and his disciples have been banging on about the need to introduce fatigue while at the same time, allowing teams to exploit player welfare rules to circumvent the very thing they want.

 

[ZTop]

Not Found | Fox Sports Videos

www.foxsports.com.au

I did enjoy this

 

[Sproj]

Not Found | Fox Sports Videos

www.foxsports.com.au

I did enjoy this

Rothfield, what an idiot

 

[Sproj]

Momirovski's suspension stands - 3 matches. Good decision but notice Annersley conveniently neglected to cover this situation in any detail? Not even a penalty upon review by the bunker.

 

[Dexter]

I cant believe the wankers on 360 tonight as well as Hooper last night are arguing Latrell should have his charges downgraded.
Trying to pull his leg away my arse. He was clearly kicking.
They all whinged that Kaufusies charge should have been a grade 3 and now using it as a standard as to why LM should get a downgrade .

 

[Sproj]

I cant believe the wankers on 360 tonight as well as Hooper last night are arguing Latrell should have his charges downgraded.
Trying to pull his leg away my arse. He was clearly kicking.
They all whinged that Kaufusies charge should have been a grade 3 and now using it as a standard as to why LM should get a downgrade .

Lets not forget his dad was sick or something, so his reaction was not good but he deserves a break.

 

[Foordy]

I cant believe the wankers on 360 tonight as well as Hooper last night are arguing Latrell should have his charges downgraded.
Trying to pull his leg away my arse. He was clearly kicking.
They all whinged that Kaufusies charge should have been a grade 3 and now using it as a standard as to why LM should get a downgrade .

Gould is saying he shouldn't be suspended at all

 

[Big Pete]

Gould is saying he shouldn't be suspended at all

Gus has been on a kick to remove suspensions completely and to simply fine players.

His argument is that the game is just finding ways to punish itself by removing the best players from contests and in the case of crusher tackles it's over nothing since players are milking them.

 

[Harry Sack]

Love how they hardly even mentioned the Broncos Panthers game. Crawley was the only one that really did and got shut down pretty quickly. Talk all night about the Bulldogs resilience against....the Cowboys but hardly a peep about the reigning wooden spoon team, that they've enjoyed taking shots at all year, going toe to toe with the team that has lost one match out of their last 25ish games. Shit show.

 

[Sproj]

Love how they hardly even mentioned the Broncos Panthers game. Crawley was the only one that really did and got shut down pretty quickly. Talk all night about the Bulldogs resilience against....the Cowboys but hardly a peep about the reigning wooden spoon team, that they've enjoyed taking shots at all year, going toe to toe with the team that has lost one match out of their last 25ish games. Shit show.

Ikin did mention that the Panthers were off their game, so yeah, clearly blind.

 

[Sproj]

The Good Times intro on 360, goodness me, horrendous.