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Immortal
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- Sep 6, 2013
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I have never seen Shane Flanagan look like anything other than about to cry.
I think this is why the NRL were taking down all of the YouTube channels that had NRL montages in them. Looks like they are starting to do their own.
All of the resources they have available to them and this is the best they come up with?
It's good. It's very good. But with their resources, so much better could be done.
400*Not sure where to post this but Cameron Smith is staying on at the Storm for another 2 years.
He's on track to be the first player to play 400 first grade games in Australia.
Amazing achievement if he can do it.
NRL’s new refereeing policy aimed at minimising stoppages and rewarding attacking teams
Let the game flow and you will be rewarded.
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The NRL is visiting all 16 clubs to reveal a new policy where referees will show on-field discretion for teams that employ an open and attractive game plan.
NRL head of football, elite competitions, Graham Annesley, will continue holding one-on-one meetings with club coaches, football managers and CEOs this week pushing for an attractive style to be implemented throughout this season.
The NRL’s strategic plan has an objective for entertaining football, yet statistics from the past two years show the game is slowing up through excessive stoppages — and Annesley wants that changed.
Referees will be instructed to be flexible during matches and not adopt a “one-size-fits-all” policy.
“We want more attacking and enjoyable football that will lure people through the gates and increase television ratings,” Annesley told The Daily Telegraph.
Fans are sick of predictable football. Photo by Matt King/Getty Images.
“We are trying to get the clubs on board with a different approach.
“It’s not as easy as just asking them to do that but it’s also about the referees adopting a slightly different approach if teams are prepared to co-operate.
“If we can get a more open, attractive brand of football then the referees have been instructed to allow that to happen.
“Our objective is to see games as open and free-flowing as possible by reducing stoppages and increasing the time the ball is in play. We want the referees to allow the players to take centre stage. Teams that don’t co-operate and push the boundaries will have to accept the consequences of their actions.
“It’s not going to be open slather. Teams will be still expected to comply but match officials will be encouraged to react to what happens in front of them. It’s in the hands of coaches and players.
Can the league spark for attacking play? AAP Image/Dave Hunt.
“If they do comply and co-operate, then the referees will be told to allow the game to flow. My objective is get to more attacking football and obviously referees play a role in that but so do the coaches and players.
“The policy I have instructed to the referees and their coaching staff is that they are to treat each game on its merit. I don’t mean they do anything other than that now but rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to every game they should wait and see what unfolds in front of them and react accordingly.”
Annesley, who adjudicated 244 first grades games, wants referees to be removed from the spotlight.
“The referees will be instructed to stay out of the game as much as possible,” Annesley said. “But that really is in the hands of the players and the co-operation they provide.
“I am briefing the clubs on what is expected for the coming year.”
The NRL wants to cut down on time wasting. Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images.
The NRL introduced rule changes late last year to minimise time wasting and keep the ball in play more. Those changes include a reduction of the scrum clock and dropout clock along with sin-binned players being told to leave the field by the most direct route.
“The main stats we monitor are about the number of stoppages in games, the length of stoppages in games and the amount of time the ball is in play,” Annesley said. “Unfortunately over the past few years those stats have been heading in the wrong direction. We have to try and reverse that trend.”
Annesley is also seeking feedback from clubs about last year and where they believe the game will be headed this season. He will have visited all clubs by the time trial matches start.
“The policy I have instructed to the referees and their coaching staff is that they are to treat each game on its merit. I don’t mean they do anything other than that now but rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to every game they should wait and see what unfolds in front of them and react accordingly.”
We're already doing it but we're going to do, do it this season. Pinky promise. Until round 4 or the first media blow up anyway.
referees will show on-field discretion for teams that employ an open and attractive game plan.
Ex-Broncos coach Wayne Bennett has told Triple M that Greg Inglis will be forced to sit out the first two games of the 2019 season.
Bennett, who has now moved on to the Rabibitohs, spoke to The Big Breakfast's sport correspondent Ben "Dobbo" Dobbin and confirmed that GI's knee injury has had some knock-on effects.
"Greg Inglis, they're all saying, he will not be there," Dobbo told Marto, Robin and Nick Cody on Tuesday morning.
"I spoke to Wayne about this. He won't be there for round one or two because he's 15 kilos over his playing weight."
Inglis has been battling with an old knee injury over the off-season and had already been ruled out of any trial matches, including the Indigenous All Stars on February 15.
"It's disappointing that I won't be able to play All Stars but I need to manage the body ahead of the season," he told NRL.com on Friday.
"I haven't been able to train much and I wouldn't want to go into a game of that importance and intensity underdone."
But the Broncos, on the other hand, have gone through an "unbelievable change", with Andrew McCullough telling Dobbo just how much of a difference there has been already.
Former Parramatta coach Daniel Anderson is set to be handed a route back into NRL as a recruitment specialist with Sydney Roosters.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports his move to the 2018 premiers comes after NRL’s integrity unit was persuaded Anderson was ready to return to the game following his deregistration for his role in the salary-cap scandal that rocked the Eels in 2016.
The 54-year-old is to link up in the Roosters front office with former Manly chief executive Joe Kelly, who was himself suspended for 12 months last March for his part in a salary cap breach at the Sea Eagles.
Former New Zealand mentor Anderson has been out of the game for two years since being admonished - along with a group of club officials known as the ‘gang of five’ - for the Eels salary saga.
But according to the newspaper’s report, he has been given the green light to take up the new role at the Roosters after convincing the NRL he is “a fit and proper person befitting registration”.
The latest development means the experienced Anderson will team up again with Roosters coach Trent Robinson, having worked together at St Gregory’s College, Campbelltown.