Penalties in the modern game

[m1c]

Last night spurned a serious think about the effect penalties have had over the last few weeks. The Dragons were just about penalised out of the game against us, whilst it would have been a tragedy had the Warriors lost. IMO penalties have too big an effect on the modern game. Back to back or piggyback sets are just too influential to the outcome of a match. Momentum is king, overriding skill and professionalism. Take out the opening 20 minutes where Manly were handed this on a platter and the Broncos outscored them.

Ruck infringements are just impossible to police subjectively. They are SUCH a grey area. Every game you see worse let go, lesser ones penalised and more often than not the players have no intent to commit a foul as it is - they don't want to concede a penalty!

IMO the kick for touch needs to be abolished, kept only for foul play.

 

[QUEENSLANDER]

Totally agree, and I have been on this bandwagon for maybe 2 years now. No more kicks for touch, or even penalty goals unless the infringement is one of foul play. All other penalties just give the team another set of 6. Dubious calls change our game too much and this whole new thing of penalising players for having a hand on the ball is stupid. Players are trained to wrap up the ball and stop its movement, so why are we suddenly penalising them for it. Too many grey areas, and abolishing the kick for touch would at least make sure this finicky penalties dont ruin anymore games.

 

[Jeba]

Send that to the Sunday Roast.

 

[Kimlo]

Yep. 100% agree that the kick for penalties should be abolished, even 2 points for penalty goals unless it is foul play. Penalties change momentum far too much.

And yes send it to a few TV shows and radio shows.

 

[Dexter]

The downside is you can stop a teams momentum when you need want to with a deliberate penalty especially early in the count and get an advantage.

 

[Porthoz]

In my opinion, more than changing the rules, the referees need to be better trained and also held accountable!

Not by their boss, who has a vested interest in camouflaging the state of affairs under his supervision, but by a truly independent panel, who will judge their performances and act accordingly. If the referees are not up to standard, suspend them without pay, especially when their performance influences the outcome of a game, and even more so during the finals.

Like the Judiciary, penalise the repeat offenders more than the clean skins.

But to do the above in fairness, the referees need to be trained better and the main focus has to be consistency!
Where ever the games are being played, judge them the same way, judge all teams the same way, and judge the infractions the same way, whether they are committed in the first or 79[SUP]th[/SUP] minute!

I don’t demand perfection, but I sure as hell demand much better than what we have now!

 

[Crazy Sam]

I haven't seen softer penalties in a final than last night. It was really poor stuff made worse by it only going one way (count how many times they had a player flop in late and then how many penalties we got in the first half).

 

[m1c]

The refs' in the Storm-Warriors game had the right idea. At this point in the comp all sides just want to play football - so they let them. Both teams had the odd defender that lingered a touch too long in the play the ball, however the referees realised this was the exception rather than the norm, and let it go. IMO when it comes to 'hands on the ball' or slowing down the ruck, only consecutive or blatantly obvious infringements should warrant a penalty.

It's fantastic that the players had complete control over tonight's result.

On a side note: Why do the referees seem to think they need to blow several penalties in the first few minutes to impose their authority? They certainly aren't setting a standard. Hodges was the victim last night. No doubt we all noticed dozens of worse, un-penalised infringements as the game wore on.

 

[Kimlo]

Absolutely m1c. If we had the tonights refs for our game it would have been a different story.
Blowing two penalties for what is at worst, technical infringements is absolutely ludicrous.

 

[Huge]

Rather than start a new thread I thought this one would do.

Looking back over the last three years I was surprised to see that the Broncos are the least penalised team ! Sometimes I feel as though we are getting pinged for the least little thing but the stats don't support me ha ha.

The difference is significant too, we are penalised less than our closest rivals West Tigers,Saints,Roosters,Warriors and Souths.

We are being rewarded for Bennettball or at least we are not being punished by it. It's significant that not only have we been consistent in scoring heavily but we've given fewer opportunities to the opposition.

Broncos: 387
Saints: 399
Warriors: 424
Roosters:450
Tigers: 458
Rabbits: 473

It's amazing really, I mean how I think one thing but the opposite is true. We aren't being hammered.

 

[Huge]

As a contrast..the most penalties concede over that period are by the Sharks, Manly and the Raiders with 520, 510 and 498 respectively . That's a staggering 113 extra sets between us and the Sharks !

 

[Morkel]

Those numbers don't show how justified the penalties are though. We are a very well disciplined team, it appears like the moment we do something just slightly wrong we get penalised because it's out of the ordinary and therefore noticeable. The opposition can be grubby shits in just about every ruck but they'll only be pinged for a fraction of their indiscretions.

 

[tommy]

Those numbers don't show how justified the penalties are though. We are a very well disciplined team, it appears like the moment we do something just slightly wrong we get penalised because it's out of the ordinary and therefore noticeable. The opposition can be grubby shits in just about every ruck but they'll only be pinged for a fraction of their indiscretions.

Have to agree. For some reason Bennett doesn't like us cheating even though it is completely acceptable these days we just don't do it. Thought it was perfectly illustrated when BP put up the pictures in our golden point loss against the cows(this year or last? Sorry terrible memory) where we were back the full 10 metres for the field goal attempt but they were back roughly 6 at best for ours. We need to start cheating if we are to win this competition!

 

[Huge]

Well, we're running third,have scored the most points this year and are close to the best in defence so maybe over the distance the strategy works. Still, maybe there will be time when we'll have to adopt a dirtier approach. My main point though was that our game plan under WB has reaped some reward.

 

[JayPee]

Those numbers don't show how justified the penalties are though. We are a very well disciplined team, it appears like the moment we do something just slightly wrong we get penalised because it's out of the ordinary and therefore noticeable. The opposition can be grubby shits in just about every ruck but they'll only be pinged for a fraction of their indiscretions.

Spin that boi

 

[Dash]

On the other hand, we receive the 12th most per game.

Guess who's got the most? It starts with a C and ends in owboys. What a shock.

Edit- in fact we're in the bottom 6 for penalties received 6 of the last 8 years.

 

[Big Del]

In my opinion, more than changing the rules, the referees need to be better trained and also held accountable!

Not by their boss, who has a vested interest in camouflaging the state of affairs under his supervision, but by a truly independent panel, who will judge their performances and act accordingly. If the referees are not up to standard, suspend them without pay, especially when their performance influences the outcome of a game, and even more so during the finals.

But to do the above in fairness, the referees need to be trained better and the main focus has to be consistency!

I don’t demand perfection, but I sure as hell demand much better than what we have now!

NRL Ref recruiting poster ; Join the NRL Refs . So strict . If you make a mistake your kids go hungry that week !
There will be a line around the corner of blokes applying for the job ....................

And then you woke up and the sheets were sticky .

 

[Foordy]

NRL Ref recruiting poster ; Join the NRL Refs . So strict . If you make a mistake your kids go hungry that week !
There will be a line around the corner of blokes applying for the job ....................

And then you woke up and the sheets were sticky .

if I made as many mistakes as NRL officials in my job ... I wouldn't have a job; but then unlike NRL referees, i'm actually held accountable for my performance (and for ensuring that my teams performance is up to scratch)