Sproj
Immortal
Senior Staff
- Sep 6, 2013
- 54,909
- 67,111
Last night, up until the 17th minute mark we had been penalised and had a number of 6 again calls (think it was 6 or 7 in total) go against us that were simply explainable. Now taking into account we are not exactly setting the place on fire with our structures and set plays there was no way Souths could have been totally error free for the same amount of time.
After seeing the bunker rule Lodge played at the ball in the captain's challenge I switched off. Like many other successful challenges Lodge was not looking at the ball and was simply trying to make a tackle. The bunker clown's call was "Lodge showed intention to strip the ball"!
So does that mean he never intentionally stripped the ball but he was looking like he was planning to? The doubt in the bunker's call suggests cognitive dissonance in the decision he's made and it was enough for me to call it quits on the latest installment of the - 2020 Duping the Broncos show .
The "50/50" call when the Souths player was pushed over the sideline was a howler - even the Souths player knew the ball was still in play and he was moving and in danger of going out as he managed to get the ball offloaded albeit a second too late as he was now touching the line. Any other game the ref would have ruled that play on.
I'm not about to go through every contentious call, I'd be here all day Christ. However, over the last 10 weeks we have been shafted quite comprehensively by both the ref and the bunker. The fact we can all see the obvious ones, and whinge about never getting the rub of the green on the 50/50 ones suggests there is more to it than just 'the way the game is'. If that is the case, if that is the way the game is now I'm looking seriously for another sport to follow.
I can see the player's frustrations. They know it's happening. To train your butt off all week and then be caned relentlessly for the first 20 minutes to ensure you're fatigued and unable to compete on a level playing field is doing their heads in.
Why the club is not supporting these boys and drawing the NRL's attention to what is an obvious anomaly is mind numbingly baffling. I know they don't want to give the younger players an excuse to not try by saying it's the poor reffing of the game and not you. They don't have to worry about that if they raise it once and make it very strongly (10K worth strongly) and then having said their piece move on.
The younger players could cop that and would be less inclined to feel defeated knowing they're in an us against them situation. It's what our club was built on for God's sake!
But for the club to say nothing week in and week out is unforgivable, and just another sad indictment of how clueless the front office is at present. It really is a case of young lions being led by meek donkeys.
I can see most of our young guns are trying, they need the front office to show them some much needed support and simply raise the stats with the NRL and ask for a 'please explain'. Until they take strong and conclusive action on this and then resolve how to get rid of the rogue fraudster who is masquerading as a head coach whose ideas are systematically ruining our playing roster I'm switching off from the whole shitshow for now.
Rant over!!
You’ll be back next week because you love the club and it breaks your heart to see it like this and you live in hope that despite the coach these blokes will actually put in and show the same passion we all have at some point.