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Beware the obstruction of justice
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Date
July 20, 2012
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THE CHALKBOARD
Sneaky Cowboy tricks
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The Cowboys are doing illegal plays, like the Bulldogs.
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I wrote last week that Canterbury were gaining an unfair advantage from illegal second-man plays and should be penalised. In the Bulldogs' game a fortnight ago against the Wests Tigers, I believe Canterbury scored four tries that should have been disallowed because Ben Barba gained an advantage by running behind his teammates. In Canterbury's game last week against Parramatta, Barba did it again and it led to the Bulldogs' first try of the second half. It wasn't as blatant an obstruction as the ones from the previous week against the Tigers. However, had the referees been ruling on obstruction plays as they should be this season, it still may have resulted in a penalty to the Eels. Nonetheless, I thought that Barba had made some adjustments to the lines he was running and the majority were run in a legal manner.
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Sam Kasiano, on the other hand, stepped into the breach for Barba by illegally helping the Bulldogs create two of their three tries in the first half. Kasiano's modus operandi is entirely different to Barba's, but it is just as illegal and should have resulted in two penalties to the Eels.
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Picture one is the lead-up to the Dogs' first try of the game. Michael Ennis has passed the ball to Kris Keating who is part of a second-man play with Kasiano. Keating is catching the ball just on the outside of Kasiano, so there is no problem there. The problem, though, is that Kasiano stopped in the Parramatta defensive line and made it impossible for Nathan Smith to play his role in defending the play. Prior to the picture, Smith moved forward and slightly in-field, with his eyes on Ennis.
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As Ennis passed the ball to Keating, Smith turned to his right and started to run towards the Bulldogs halfback. Smith didn't get far, however, as he ran straight into man-mountain Kasiano, who was in the Parramatta defensive line. Kasiano stopping Smith from moving towards Keating is illegal and he should have been penalised. The referees must have seen Kasiano obstruct Smith so one can only assume that they thought it was a fair try because, in their opinion, the try would still have been scored regardless of the obstruction. I beg to differ.
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When Smith got stuck behind Kasiano, Smith's outside defender, Luke Kelly, was obliged to tackle Keating as the Dogs' half ran towards Kelly. This meant the defender on the outside of Kelly, Ryan Morgan, had to try to cover two players, Frank Pritchard and Barba. Barba, who received the ball off Keating after running around the back of Pritchard, sped past Morgan. The fact that Morgan was forced to cover Pritchard before switching to Barba made this assignment impossible. The Eels had only one defender on the outside of Morgan which gave the Dogs a three-against-one situation and Josh Morris scored untouched.
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To argue that this try would definitely have been scored if Kasiano didn't impede Smith is wrong. If we take Kasiano out of the picture, Smith would have moved swiftly along the line of the arrow in order to be in a position to tackle Keating. As soon as Kelly saw Smith in this position, he would no longer have needed to hold his position on Keating. This would have allowed Kelly to move outwards to cover Pritchard. With Kelly marking Pritchard, Morgan could have turned his total attention to tackling Barba. With Morgan focusing solely on Barba, Morgan was a good chance of stopping the play dead by tackling Barba as he caught the ball. I can't guarantee that Morgan would have made this tackle. But I can guarantee that he wasn't given a fair chance to make it.
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Josh Morris then scored a second try just before half-time in exactly the same fashion as the previous one. Kasiano's obstruction of Smith wasn't quite as blatant on this occasion, but it had an identical effect on the Parramatta defensive line. In my opinion, neither of these tries should have been awarded.
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I wrote last week that if we didn't stamp this out soon all teams would be doing it within 12 months and it has started already.
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Picture two is from the Cowboys and Storm game last week. Johnathan Thurston passed the ball to Matt Bowen who is running a second-man play with Gavin Cooper. Just as Barba was doing against the Tigers, Bowen is catching the ball inside of Cooper before running around the back of him. The Cowboys made a break off this play when it should have been a penalty to the Storm. They also benefited from a Kasiano-type obstruction play when Cooper impeded a Storm defender and Cowboys centre Kane Linnett almost scored.
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This year, the referees have allowed all of these obstruction rulings to be open to interpretation. This is what led to the awarding of that ridiculous try to Justin Hodges in Origin III. Meanwhile, in the NRL, Des Hasler and his Bulldogs have taken full advantage. What we need is some hard-and-fast rules. If a player runs behind a teammate and a defender is impeded, a penalty should be awarded. If a decoy runner obstructs a defender trying to move out towards the ball, a penalty should be awarded. And believe me, the coaches and players will adjust in the space of a week.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/beware-the-obstruction-of-justice-20120719-22d6i.html
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Jason Taylor for refs coach. i reckon.
I'm noticing obstruction more and more during games.
Penrith were cronic at it last week.
>
Beware the obstruction of justice
>
Date
July 20, 2012
\
\
THE CHALKBOARD
Sneaky Cowboy tricks
>
The Cowboys are doing illegal plays, like the Bulldogs.
\
\
\
I wrote last week that Canterbury were gaining an unfair advantage from illegal second-man plays and should be penalised. In the Bulldogs' game a fortnight ago against the Wests Tigers, I believe Canterbury scored four tries that should have been disallowed because Ben Barba gained an advantage by running behind his teammates. In Canterbury's game last week against Parramatta, Barba did it again and it led to the Bulldogs' first try of the second half. It wasn't as blatant an obstruction as the ones from the previous week against the Tigers. However, had the referees been ruling on obstruction plays as they should be this season, it still may have resulted in a penalty to the Eels. Nonetheless, I thought that Barba had made some adjustments to the lines he was running and the majority were run in a legal manner.
>
Sam Kasiano, on the other hand, stepped into the breach for Barba by illegally helping the Bulldogs create two of their three tries in the first half. Kasiano's modus operandi is entirely different to Barba's, but it is just as illegal and should have resulted in two penalties to the Eels.
>
Picture one is the lead-up to the Dogs' first try of the game. Michael Ennis has passed the ball to Kris Keating who is part of a second-man play with Kasiano. Keating is catching the ball just on the outside of Kasiano, so there is no problem there. The problem, though, is that Kasiano stopped in the Parramatta defensive line and made it impossible for Nathan Smith to play his role in defending the play. Prior to the picture, Smith moved forward and slightly in-field, with his eyes on Ennis.
>
>
As Ennis passed the ball to Keating, Smith turned to his right and started to run towards the Bulldogs halfback. Smith didn't get far, however, as he ran straight into man-mountain Kasiano, who was in the Parramatta defensive line. Kasiano stopping Smith from moving towards Keating is illegal and he should have been penalised. The referees must have seen Kasiano obstruct Smith so one can only assume that they thought it was a fair try because, in their opinion, the try would still have been scored regardless of the obstruction. I beg to differ.
Advertisement
>
When Smith got stuck behind Kasiano, Smith's outside defender, Luke Kelly, was obliged to tackle Keating as the Dogs' half ran towards Kelly. This meant the defender on the outside of Kelly, Ryan Morgan, had to try to cover two players, Frank Pritchard and Barba. Barba, who received the ball off Keating after running around the back of Pritchard, sped past Morgan. The fact that Morgan was forced to cover Pritchard before switching to Barba made this assignment impossible. The Eels had only one defender on the outside of Morgan which gave the Dogs a three-against-one situation and Josh Morris scored untouched.
>
To argue that this try would definitely have been scored if Kasiano didn't impede Smith is wrong. If we take Kasiano out of the picture, Smith would have moved swiftly along the line of the arrow in order to be in a position to tackle Keating. As soon as Kelly saw Smith in this position, he would no longer have needed to hold his position on Keating. This would have allowed Kelly to move outwards to cover Pritchard. With Kelly marking Pritchard, Morgan could have turned his total attention to tackling Barba. With Morgan focusing solely on Barba, Morgan was a good chance of stopping the play dead by tackling Barba as he caught the ball. I can't guarantee that Morgan would have made this tackle. But I can guarantee that he wasn't given a fair chance to make it.
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Josh Morris then scored a second try just before half-time in exactly the same fashion as the previous one. Kasiano's obstruction of Smith wasn't quite as blatant on this occasion, but it had an identical effect on the Parramatta defensive line. In my opinion, neither of these tries should have been awarded.
>
I wrote last week that if we didn't stamp this out soon all teams would be doing it within 12 months and it has started already.
>
Picture two is from the Cowboys and Storm game last week. Johnathan Thurston passed the ball to Matt Bowen who is running a second-man play with Gavin Cooper. Just as Barba was doing against the Tigers, Bowen is catching the ball inside of Cooper before running around the back of him. The Cowboys made a break off this play when it should have been a penalty to the Storm. They also benefited from a Kasiano-type obstruction play when Cooper impeded a Storm defender and Cowboys centre Kane Linnett almost scored.
>
This year, the referees have allowed all of these obstruction rulings to be open to interpretation. This is what led to the awarding of that ridiculous try to Justin Hodges in Origin III. Meanwhile, in the NRL, Des Hasler and his Bulldogs have taken full advantage. What we need is some hard-and-fast rules. If a player runs behind a teammate and a defender is impeded, a penalty should be awarded. If a decoy runner obstructs a defender trying to move out towards the ball, a penalty should be awarded. And believe me, the coaches and players will adjust in the space of a week.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/beware-the-obstruction-of-justice-20120719-22d6i.html
\
\
Jason Taylor for refs coach. i reckon.
I'm noticing obstruction more and more during games.
Penrith were cronic at it last week.
