Round 15 Discussion

[The Brizz]

It is hard to have ball security when you are trying to put the ball down with one hand. Any contact with the ball while the opposing player is in the act of scoring a try is going to be called as playing at it, so unless DCE attempted to catch it in the air it will generally be play on eg Greg Inglis SOO try. So going by this years calls I thought it was a fair try even though it was pretty or fair for a great defensive effort.

What a load of crap! So just because a guy has one hand holding the ball means he gets more leniency? No way. It shouldn't matter where on the field or what the circumstance if someone hits your arm and knocks the ball loose that's your fault not his. How many hands you have on the footy should not even be part of the process of deciding whether it is a try or not. The way the rules have been complicated has made situations like this grey when that should be a black and white knock on. I wish from this point all dropped balls would be ruled knock ons and in the natural break caused by the scrum/dropout from the knock on the guy upstairs got one single look at it and could then reverse it, it wouldn't take extra time and it would take a lot of pressure off the refs who get these calls wrong so often.

 

[Dexter]

There were a couple of really nasty looking tackles by (believe it or not) Melbourne players last night.

Both were crusher tackles on DCE, the Hoffman tackle you can see was mostly accidental but he didn't hold back at all once he had DCE in the wrong position and the other was a blatant effort by Siosaia Vave.

It's past time the refs start treating these types of tackles as high shots, penalty every time deliberate or accidental.

 

[Anonymous person]

I wish from this point all dropped balls would be ruled knock ons...

ive been saying this for a few seasons now - i think the game would be much better if we eliminated knock-ons and knock-backs in a tackle - a knock-back say from a kick or a pass when there isnt a hand on you would be fine - as it just removes any and all doubt. ball comes out in a tackle and its not from a steal? handover. doesnt matter if its gone directly down, a metre back or a metre forward - call it a dropped ball and have a turn over.

as it is, it basically comes down to who the referee wants to get the ball, and its ruining games. losing possession is such a HUGE part of the game these days, to be constantly getting these calls wrong is unacceptable. it can and has cost teams matches, and its not long til it costs a team a premiership or origin victory.

 

[Twiztid]

I have to disagree, I thought it was obvious that Hoffman didn't touch the ball, only his arm, and Cherry Evans new it.

I just watched the highlights video on the NRL site - http://www.nrl.com/Video/tabid/10959/contentid/459443/Default.aspx (1.41) and to me it looks like he got underneath the arm and touched the bottom of the ball forcing it out.

What a load of crap! So just because a guy has one hand holding the ball means he gets more leniency? No way. It shouldn't matter where on the field or what the circumstance if someone hits your arm and knocks the ball loose that's your fault not his.

As I said in my other post, I feel he hit the ball. So playing at the ball over the line is play on as it follows the same rules as a 1 on 1 strip. If he attacks the arm and the ball comes free then it is a knock on.